Denton Mayor Perry McNeill and rival Mark Burroughs are headed for a runoff after neither secured a majority of the vote in Saturday’s mayoral race. Two other candidates, businessman Justin Bell and college student Darac Favre, combined to receive about 12 percent of the 3,330 votes cast — preventing either McNeill or Burroughs from reaching 50 percent and extending a bruising campaign for an­other month.

 Denton Election Results

 Area Municipal Election Results

 Area School Board Election Results

 Special Election Results

ARGYLE — Voter turnout was robust at Argyle Town Hall, as residents reported receiving recorded messages for several candidates reminding them to vote Saturday morning.

Voters will decide city and school district races across Denton County today, including the hotly contested Denton mayoral race. Mayor Perry McNeill, a retired professor and engineer, is fighting for re-election against three challengers. They include former council member Mark Burroughs, a lawyer who has spent more than $45,000 to unseat the first-term incumbent.

 Polling sites, list of candidates

Voters will head to the polls Saturday to decide city and school district races across Denton County, including the hotly contested

 Polling places, list of candidates

DRC/Al Key

Members of the West Oak Area Homeowners Association stand in front of Darlene Stewart’s home at 2003 W. Oak St. on Thursday.

Residents along West Oak Street in Denton have spent years fighting projects they thought would mar their neighborhood’s character. Apartments. A towing company. And, most recently, a fraternity house. The battles left them weary and eager for a better way to prevent unwelcome land uses. Now, they think they’ve found a solution.

Spirited races for mayor and three City Council seats drew 1,902 Denton residents to the polls for early voting. That’s 17 percent more voters than cast early ballots in 2006, the last election with a mayor’s race.

DRC/Gary Payne

Denton Assistant Fire Marshal Chad Weldon, left, and Fire Marshal Rick Jones unload a robot from the Denton Fire/Rescue bomb truck on Tuesday.

Slowly, carefully, the Mighty Mustang creeps up to the big round black capsule and stretches its metal neck upward and outward. Then it goes up on its tippytoes — on tracks that can lift its front or back — while it carefully deposits a simulated explosive device through the open door into the capsule’s cradle. Then it pushes the button on the capsule that closes the door. If this had been a real explosive device, it would be contained for moving to a safe place. The capsule would contain blast pressure and fragments if the device exploded and even capture gas or a chemical from a biological weapon.

The last round of campaign finance reports before Saturday’s local election showed big spending in the town of Hickory Creek, in the Pilot Point school board race, and in Argyle school board and town elections, where a specific-purpose committee has upped the ante for Town Council incumbents. Individually, the area’s biggest spender so far is Charles Read, candidate for the Hickory Creek Town Council. He reported spending $6,092.

DRC/Al Key

Lisa Rose, a Pilot Point code enforcement officer, stands outside City Hall recently.

PILOT POINT — Lisa Rose had an inkling of the challenge ahead when Po­lice Chief James Edlund asked her to become the city’s part-time code enforcement officer nearly three years ago. She was born and raised in Pilot Point. She knew almost everybody. She knew how difficult it would be to walk up to people at their home, or inside their business, and ask them to take care of an old car or tall weeds.

DRC/Barron Ludlum

Carol Soph, shown in her back yard, and her husband, Ed, had solar panels installed on the roof of their home on Victoria Street to save some wear and tear on the environment while lowering their electric bills.

Carol and Ed Soph’s electric meter runs backwards. Not all the time, but enough to drastically cut their home energy bill. The Sophs installed 16 solar panels on the roof of their northeast Denton home last year. Energy from the sun powers their home during the daytime. Any excess power goes onto the city’s power grid, and their meter arrow turns around.

Mark Burroughs

Denton mayoral candidate Mark Burroughs is questioning the legality of a recent mailer that claims his campaign is awash in conflict-of-interest questions. The group that funded the mailer — led by local activist Bob Clifton — has not registered a campaign treasurer with the city secretary’s office. The state election code prevents political committees from spending or accepting more than $500 unless they file a campaign treasurer appointment.

HICKORY CREEK — Rumblings from residents living on the east side have gotten a little louder this year, especially now that both candidates vying for Place 4 on the Town Council come from the west side.

Edward Weir

As an Army Air Corps navigator in World War II, Edward Weir spent breaks between bombing raids writing his combat tales in a journal. He wanted to record them for his family. Today, those tales form the basis of Down to Two Feet Altitude, a new book by Denton author James A. Wells. He wanted to record them for posterity.