Polk County News
2A Polk County Itemizer-Observer • November 16, 2016
Monmouth will have Dallas votes in three new councilors
three new councilors Two incumbents among those who grab the five open seats in the race
By Emily Mentzer
The Itemizer-Observer
MONMOUTH — The city
of Monmouth has a new
mayor, Steve Milligan, who
ran unopposed and earned
2,697 votes (94 percent).
Monmouth’s City Council
has one incumbent re-elect-
ed, Darin
Silbernagel
with 1,318
votes (14
percent).
Silber-
nagel said
he was
honored to
Silbernagel be re-elect-
ed.
“I don’t know what the
next issue will be,” Silber-
nagel said. “I want to put our
best foot forward. I have no
real agenda except to make
it the best place it can be for
the city of Monmouth and
WOU (Western Oregon Uni-
versity).”
Among newcomers to the
council, Laurel Sharmer
(1,328, 14 percent), Byron
Shinkle (1,168, 12 percent)
and Thomas Steinke (1,055,
11 percent) have been elect-
ed, according to unofficial
election results.
With three new coun-
cilors, Silbernagel said he
hopes the new group will
meld together well.
“We’ve had a really stable
council,” he said. “Time will
tell. Hopefully things will go
consistently well going for-
ward.”
Steve Deptula (1,046, 11
percent), Mark Lane (1,002,
10 percent), Rich Graham
(798, 8 percent) and George
Jeffery (773, 8 percent) were
the other candidates in the
race.
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By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — After the Nov.
8 election, the Dallas City
Council will welcome three
new councilors and say
goodbye to one who has
served
more than
t h r e e
decades.
Incum-
bents Ken
Woods Jr.
and Kelly
Gabliks
Wilson
won re-
election
with 3,660 and 3,301 votes,
respectively, in unofficial
final election results.
A third incumbent,
L a Vo n n e W i l s o n , j u s t
missed taking the fifth and
last open seat by 37 votes.
At the end of her term,
she will have served 32 years
on the council.
“It’s been an honor and
privilege to have served as
long as I did,” Wilson said.
She said she had the
good fortune of working
with excellent city person-
nel and city managers over
the decades.
“I’m very pleased with
what we’ve accomplished
over the years,” she said.
Wilson said, if the oppor-
GOVERNMENT
tunity
arises —
s a y, a n
opening
on the
c i t y ’s
budget
commit-
tee — she
Trahan
will stay
involved
in city government, but be-
lieves her colleagues on the
council and the new coun-
cilors coming in will do well
for the city.
“They want to step up to
the plate and help,” she
said. “That’s important.”
Paul Trahan, one of the
trio of new councilors, also
expressed disappointment
that Wilson’s tenure is end-
ing. He earned the third
highest vote tally at 3,382.
“She’s done a wonderful
job in the past, and I’m sure
she will stay involved,” he
said.
Trahan said he’s grateful
for the opportunity to serve
and wants to help the city
with economic develop-
ment in filling retail spaces
on Main Street and bring in
another “big box” retail
chain to town.
He also would like to see
some activity on the former
Weyerhaeuser mill site in
Dallas.
“I look forward to work-
ing with the council and
city staff,” Trahan said.
Terry Crawford took sec-
ond in the
voting
w i t h
3,423.
He be-
lieves bal-
ancing
the city’s
budget
will be a
Crawford
big task
for the council in the com-
ing year. He said police,
streets and critical infra-
structure — water and
sewer — should be the first
priorities, but he thinks
there are ways to include
recreation in the budget,
too.
“I think there are ways
way can increase revenue,
increase some attendance
at the Dallas Aquatic Cen-
ter,” Crawford said. “I don’t
think there’s anybody that
thinks it needs to be closed.
It’s quite an attraction,”
Crawford said he will re-
view the city’s budget and
attend a workshop at the
Mark Hatfield School of
Government to get ready
for taking his seat on the
council.
L i k e
Tr a h a n ,
Jennie
Rummell,
another
n e w
councilor,
said eco-
nomic de-
Rummell
velop-
ment would be her priority.
“I love hearing ideas on
what people would like to
see in town, and there are a
lot of ideas,” Rummell said.
“I really feel, as a communi-
ty, we need to find a niche.”
She said highlighting
the town’s history could be
one such niche. Rummell,
who received 3,292 votes,
said she wants to help
make “the community
connected and engaged so
there is even more home-
town pride.”
“I am really excited for
the opportunity to serve in
Dallas, and hope that peo-
ple feel comfortable coming
to me with concerns,” Rum-
mell said.
Indy council to see three new faces
By Emily Mentzer
The Itemizer-Observer
INDEPENDENCE — Rich
King, Ken Day and Kathy
Martin-Willis will join the
Independence City Council
in January, along with
Mayor John McArdle, who
was re-elected and ran un-
opposed.
The three councilors will
replace Forrest Peck (Posi-
tion 3), Jerry Hoffman (Posi-
tion 5) and Nancy Lodge
(Position 6). No incumbents
ran for
council.
Day, Po-
sition 5,
ran against
c h a l -
lengers
Michael
Hicks and
Day
George
Ne u j a h r.
He won the vote with 53
percent, or 1,207 votes, to
Hicks 760 votes and Neu-
jahr’s 256.
He said he is looking for-
ward to learning how the
council works and being
able to help move the city
forward as a “destination lo-
cation.”
“I’m re-
ally inter-
ested in
how we
spend our
money,
and want
to learn
m o r e
Martin-Willis about the
budgeting process and
where the funds come from
and where they go,” Day
said.
A member of the Mon-
mouth Independence Net-
works finance committee,
Day said he hopes to be ap-
pointed to the Minet board
of directors.
“I’d like to continue to
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work for
Minet,” he
said. “I
t h i n k
t h e y ’r e a
great com-
pany. The
service
they pro-
King
vide is real-
ly good, and it’s going to be
more and more needed in
the coming years. I think it
made a difference — how
big a difference, I don’t
know — in the development
at Independence Landing.”
Day said he is excited to
get to work.
“I think it’s going to be in-
teresting with a combina-
tion of new people and peo-
ple who have already been
there,” Day said. “I’m look-
ing forward to it. It’s gonna
be a challenge, and we’ll
make good decisions — not
to say people before made
bad decisions.”
Martin-Willis (Position 6)
will take Lodge’s seat. Lodge
decided not to run again
after serving 16 years on the
council.
“We have wonderful op-
portunities before us, pri-
marily, the Independence
Landing project,” Martin-
Willis said. “Recently, we’ve
taken next steps with the de-
veloper, and we’re looking
forward to the infrastructure
laid moving ahead.”
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