It was another victory for the three incumbents in Tuesday's Murfreesboro City Council election, though one challenger made things close.

Vice Mayor Chris Bratcher, Toby Gilley and Ron Washington defeated challengers Dave Beardsley, Eddie Smotherman and Jeff Weems to retain their seats on the council for another four years.

"I like to think that people trust us," said Washington, who led all vote-getters. "If they don't trust us, we have a problem."

The 49-year-old district manager at Middle Tennessee Electric Membership Corp. said he hoped to continue the successes of the council in the coming term. Washington received 2,469 votes or 20 percent of the vote.

Only 4,679 residents cast their votes in the election, the lowest number in at least the past 10 years.

Washington, who has served on the council for 10 years, said the low voter turnout -about 8.7 percent of the 53,000 registered voters in the city - was troubling.

"We need to do better," he said.

He said the challengers campaigned on a message of change, but didn't have the substance to back up that mantra.

"Change what?" he said. "Tell me what to change, and I'll listen."

Bratcher, a 49-year-old commercial real estate broker and current vice mayor, narrowly won his sixth term over the lead challenger, Smotherman by 81 votes.

Bratcher - who received 2,237 votes, or 18.1 percent - said Smotherman, a 49-year-old jewelry store owner, like all the challengers, ran a good race. He said Smotherman had a lot of appeal because he is a Murfreesboro native and brought a lot of good issues to the table.

"I think he proved you don't have to have a lot of money to get a lot of votes," Bratcher said.

Smotherman's campaign reported $900 in donations, $500 of which came from Smotherman himself.

Bratcher, who has served on the council for 20 years, said he would work during the coming term to improve the situation for Murfreesboro city employees, particularly police and firefighters.

He said he would also work to insure Murfreesboro experiences its 14th straight year without a property tax increase.

Bratcher attributed the low voter turnout to high satisfaction around the city with the way things are being run.

"A lot of times people vote against a candidate rather than for one," he said.

Gilley, a 37-year-old attorney who won a third term on the council with 2,286 votes, or 18.5 percent, agreed that people are generally pleased. He said the new developments like Medical Center Parkway, The Avenue Murfreesboro and the hotel and conference center make Murfreesboro the envy of those in other communities.

"We are little middle no more," he said.

Gilley said he hoped to work to implement new design guidelines for commercial development in the coming term, and help the city continue to grow positively.

"We are becoming a model city," he said.

Beardsley, a 35-year-old analyst for Verizon Wireless, received 15 percent of the vote with 1,927 votes and 37-year-old Jeff Weems, a former copy editor with The Daily News Journal, received 1,356 votes, or 11 percent.