Mayor Ray Madrigal seeks second term as four candidates face off in two districts

Saturday, August 25, 2018 - 2:08pm By Ed Martin, Editor

Mayor Ray Madrigal will face Stuart Lyons in Lemoore Council District A

Four candidates will vie for two seats in the November 6 General Election as one incumbent opted not to seek a second term and first-termer, Mayor Ray Madrigal, guns for a second four-year term.

November’s election will be the first local race governed by districts. The Lemoore City Council approved the move to district elections earlier this year.

Madrigal currently serves newly-established District A, while Councilmember, Jeff Chedester, serving District C, has decided against a second term. In District C, Lemoore’s Chad Billingsley, a safety professional, a will face Tony Garcia, 46, who works for Kings County in the cyber-security field and teaches computer courses at West Hills College.

Tony Garcia, District C

Billingsley, 36, is currently pursuing an MA in Occupational Safety and Health at Columbia Southern University. He and his wife Trista are both Lemoore High graduates and have a three-year-old daughter and five-year-old son. He is also a member of the Lemoore Volunteer Fire Department.

Garcia earned a bachelor’s degree in technical management and a master’s in public administration.

Madrigal will face only one challenge, from longtime Lemoore resident Stuart Lyons, a 16-year veteran of the Lemoore Volunteer Fire Department who, with wife Mona, enjoy life with their three rescue dachshunds. Lyons sees possible service on the council as an extension of his service to the City of Lemoore.

Lyons is a Lemoore High School grad and attended West Hills College. He works for the State of California as a fire captain.

Chad Billingsley, District C.

Madrigal, appointed mayor during his first term, is a long-established resident of Lemoore, who also attended Lemoore High School. He currently works as a Healthcare Disaster Preparedness Coordinator for Adventist Health Central Valley Network. Before that he had an impressive 30-year career with the California Highway Patrol, retiring as captain and area commander in Mendocino County.

The mayor has a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice administration from Columbia College and an associate degree in administration of justice from West Hills College.

He is married to wife Tammi, and they have three children, all of whom attended Lemoore High School.