Longtime Columbia Heritage Foundation board member Laurie Beal Kincannon has filed to run for reelection as the mayor of West Columbia while Misty Congdon, a relative newcomer to the Heritage Foundation board, is also seeking election to City Council.
The West Columbia City Council election will be in May of this year. Mayor Kincannon is currently unopposed for reelection.
Laurie Nell Beal was a 1970 graduate of Columbia High School. According to a story in today’s (February 9, 2024) Facts newspaper, Laurie Kincannon has been the mayor of West Columbia since May 2008. She is the longest serving mayor in West Columbia history, and also the first woman to ever serve in that role.
Among her campaign goals, Kincannon lists seeking more grants for infrastructure projects, improving roads and drainage in West Columbia “to defray these costs away from our local taxpayers,” she told The Facts. Mayor Kincannon also looks forward to reelection for another term as mayor to continue her support of the local police department “to keep our citizens and businesses safe.”
A retired school teacher, Mayor Kincannon presently serves as the president of the West Columbia Rotary Club and the West Columbia Economic Development Corporation. She is also vice president of the Columbia Cemetery Association Board of Directors.
Kincannon taught History and English at Columbia High School after returning to her home town many years ago. She is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Harold Beal and the wife of current Port of Freeport Commissioner Kim Kincannon, a former trustee on the Columbia-Brazoria Independent School Board.
Her involvement with the Columbia Heritage Foundation goes back to the formation of the organization many years ago.
Both Laurie Kincannon and Misty Congdon attended classes on the Heritage Hall campus when it was West Columbia Junior High School when they were seventh and eighth graders. The old junior high school was closed by the local school district when West Brazos Junior High opened its doors between Wild Peach and Brazoria.
Misty Thompson Congdon is a 1999 graduate of Columbia High School. She and her husband, Donny Congdon, reside in West Columbia. Misty is a member of both the Columbia Historical Museum and the Columbia Heritage Foundation boards of directors.
She has filed to run for Position 2 on the West Columbia City Council. That council position is presently held by longtime Councilman Charley Tindol whose term expires in May 2024.
Lauren Raynes Buchanan, currently serving as West Columbia’s Position 5 city council member, will also be on the May ballot. She has filed for reelection.
