Election
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, November 14, 2018
A3
C OMPLETE LOCAL ELECTION RESULTS
Incumbents remain on John Day council
Grant County
posts 74.5
percent voter
turnout rate
Blue Mountain Eagle
With a 74.5 percent turn-
out rate, 3,916 ballots were re-
ceived in Grant County in last
week’s election, according to
unofficial election results.
For three seats on the
John Day City Council,
the three incumbents were
re-elected. Shannon Adair
received 471 votes, Paul
Smith received 431 and
Gregg Haberly received
372. Former mayor, coun-
cilor and commissioner
Chris Labhart received 363.
For three Prairie City
Council seats, Scott Officer
received 314, Chase McClung
received 227 and Tisha Pack-
ard received 203, followed
by Chantal DesJardin with
Shannon Adair
Paul C. Smith
Gregg Haberly
198, Les Church with 180 and
Eddy Hicks with 146.
In a close race for two
seats on the Mt. Vernon City
Council, Bryan Montague re-
ceived 137, Mitchel Wilson
received 126 and Jan Lowry
received 123.
In the race for Long Creek
City Council Position 4, De-
nise Porter received 55 votes
over Dan Morrow with 42.
For Position 3, Alvin Hunt
received 47 over Lou Spring-
stead with 31 and Leslie Bar-
nett with 19.
In Monument, where no
candidates registered for
three city council seats, Jabe
Philip Merricks won the
race for Position 4 with nine
write-in votes, and Sherry
Carpenter won the race for
Position 5 with 14 write-in
votes.
Stephanie Gilbert and
Rusty Baughman each re-
ceived four write-in votes
for Position 6. County Clerk
Brenda Percy said it will be
up to the Monument City
Council to decide how to set-
tle the tie vote.
Republican Cliff Bentz se-
cured 38,965 votes over Dem-
ocratic challenger Solea Ka-
bakov, who received 15,091,
in the race for state senator for
district 30.
Republican Lynn Findley
received 18,079 votes to be
elected as state representative
for the 60th district.
For state governor, Demo-
crat Kate Brown won re-elec-
tion, defeating Republican
challenger Knute Buehler.
Brown received 910,435
votes over challenger Knute
Buehler with 796,883.
For U.S. representative,
incumbent Rep. Greg Walden
won re-election over Demo-
cratic challenger Jamie Mc-
Small town mayors looking ahead
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
Several mayors of Grant
County’s small cities didn’t
have to face a competitive
election this year. These vol-
untary citizens perform an im-
portant function that’s some-
times hard to fill in small,
rural communities.
As one mayor said, his
salary tripled this year — it’s
still zero.
Long Creek
Long Creek Mayor Don
Porter ran unopposed this
year. He was first elected in
a 2005 special election. His
family has old roots in the
community — there’s a Porter
Road in the area, he said.
Porter returned to Long
Creek in 1984. His wife, De-
nise, is a schoolteacher and
city councilor, and both serve
on the volunteer fire depart-
ment.
Long Creek was on the
fast track to becoming a ghost
town when he moved there in
1984, Porter said. The motel
and his online natural supple-
ments sales business were the
only businesses in town, he
said.
Today, Long Creek has
two convenience stores with
groceries, an automotive re-
pair shop with a qualified me-
chanic and “one and a half”
restaurants — a cafe that
serves sit-down meals year-
round and a seasonal “chuck-
wagon,” he said.
New people were moving
into town, and houses were
being remodeled, he said.
The city’s infrastructure
is sound, Porter noted. The
40-year-old sewer plant was
built for 800 people — the
city has 100 hookups but
could serve 300. The public
water system hasn’t seen a
major leak, with costs rang-
ing from $5,000-7,000, since
2013.
Long Creek has a good
relationship with the Grant
County Sheriff’s Office and
Oregon State Police. Prob-
lems with speeders on High-
way 395 have been reduced,
thanks to a radar-controlled
speed control sign, but the
city needs another on the
county road near the school,
Porter said.
The No. 1 priority for
Long Creek is to improve
internet access, Porter said.
His wife is now on the Grant
County Digital Network Coa-
lition board and committed to
doing what she can to bring
broadband speeds to the com-
munity, he said.
Mt. Vernon
Kenny Delano ran unop-
posed and won re-election
to a second two-year term as
mayor of Mt. Vernon.
A “Navy brat” who grew
up on both coasts, Delano
moved to Grant County in
1981, where both his parents
grew up. He’s been work-
ing in the surveying business
since 1983.
Delano played an import-
ant role in transitioning the
county’s 911 dispatch sys-
tem from the city of John
Day to the Intergovernmen-
tal Council. He said he ini-
tially got involved as the
representative for Mt. Ver-
non, but as he spoke up at
meetings, he found himself
appointed chairman of the
IGC board.
Mt. Vernon will see some
infrastructure projects next
year, Delano said. The city re-
ceived a grant to upgrade the
sewer system, including new
equipment at the treatment
plant, preventing groundwater
infiltration in the collection
system and extending a main
from Highway 26 near Beech
Creek north to the Rimrock
Lane area.
The city has begun talks
with Business Oregon to find
funding to update the master
plan for the city’s water sys-
tem. City crews have begun
work preparing the city park
for new playground equip-
ment that has already been
delivered. Using volunteer
help, the playground should
be ready for children by next
spring.
Using its small-city allot-
ment from the Oregon De-
partment of Transportation,
the city finished some paving
work on Highlan Terrace. The
allotment may double next
fiscal year, Delano said.
Good news for Mt. Vernon
residents is that the new own-
ers of the trailer court sold
by the county following tax
foreclosure are making vital
improvements to the water
system. The city will help in-
stall the upgraded system to a
city main, with the new own-
er covering the costs, Delano
said.
Some of the burned motel
also has been demolished and
removed, he added.
Dayville
Ilah Bennett ran unop-
posed for mayor of Dayville
after being appointed in June.
She said she showed up at a
city council meeting in June
knowing full well that Peter
Bogardus was stepping down
as mayor and moving out of
town, but she was surprised
at how quickly the councilors
nominated and appointed her
as the city’s mayor.
Bennett grew up in Can-
yon City and moved to Day-
ville in 2004. She’s been at
the post office for 14 years,
three years as postmaster.
Bennett comes to the of-
fice with no agenda and an
interest only in serving her
community. She said she
wants to keep Dayville go-
ing.
Today that means restor-
ing the Community Hall
building on Highway 26.
Bennett said the facility is
usable but needs to be mod-
ernized and upgraded. The
building needs to be brought
up to code, and water and
heating problems need to be
addressed, she said.
The city is already work-
ing on a Community De-
velopment Block Grant ap-
plication to fund the work,
Bennett said.
The hall sees a lot of use,
from potlucks and Fourth of
July dances to Halloween
events for the school and a
winter festival bazaar.
Plans also are in the
works to upgrade the Day-
ville School, Bennett said.
Students range from pre-
school to 12th grade, and the
school now offers day care
for teachers, she said.
Seneca
Brad Smith said he be-
came mayor of Seneca
the same way he became
a city councilor in recent
years — he was appointed
to replace people who had
left. He also won election
to the council one time
by a write-in campaign he
hadn’t orchestrated.
That’s the way it goes in
rural Oregon cities, Smith
said. All told, he’s been on
the council for about two
decades, but he started out
running for the position and
winning elections.
Smith grew up in Seneca
and, after a few years of col-
lege in Bend, went to work
at a large ranch near Sene-
ca where he had worked as
a young boy. He said he’s
been at the ranch for more
than 30 years. Smith’s son
Brandon is a city councilor
for John Day.
Seneca is a small town
with the same problems
found anywhere else, Smith
said. But the city will see a
major upgrade next year —
a new sewer plant across the
Silvies River from the pres-
ent plant and new water and
sewer mains run throughout
the city.
Smith credits former City
Manager Josh Walker for get-
ting the huge project under-
way and for keeping an eye
on it now as the city’s project
manager.
Walker also grew up in
Seneca and returned to the
city after time in the Air
Force, Smith said.
The goal is to get as much
infrastructure work complet-
ed at one time as possible,
with the city’s alleys torn up
one block as a time. The city
is also looking for a grant to
pay for a new fire hall, Smith
said.
• In the race for Granite
mayor, Ronald Ray Simonis
received five votes. Write-
in candidates received four
votes.
• Ron Lundbom was
re-elected as John Day mayor
with 491 votes.
• Don Porter received 68
votes in the Long Creek may-
or race.
• Kenny Delano was
re-elected Mt. Vernon mayor
with 197 votes.
• Sue Holliday and Bar-
bara Northington each re-
ceived 68 votes, and Lilly
Foster received 65 votes, for
three seats on the Seneca City
Council.
• Roger Ediger and Joanne
Keerins were elected in sepa-
rate races for positions on the
Grant Soil and Water Conser-
vation District board.
• Andrew Watkins, James
Bahrenburg and Brian Camp-
bell were elected in separate
races for the Monument Soil
and Water Conservation Dis-
trict board.
Hamsher re-elected
in write-in campaign
Mayor hopes to
ensure projects
are completed
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
Prairie City Mayor Jim
Hamsher won re-election
as a write-in candidate with
overwhelming numbers.
Hamsher received 218
votes in his write-in cam-
paign, according to unoffi-
cial election results, while
Frances Preston received
108, Carole Garrison re-
ceived 87 and write-in can-
didate Taci Philbrook re-
ceived 59.
He said he wanted to stay
in office to ensure that im-
portant infrastructure proj-
ects are completed. He said
the results showed he still
had clout in town.
The water project was
on many voters’ minds after
two summers of shortages.
Plans call for running pipes
and power to city wells at
Fainman Springs to boost
the municipal water supply.
The city declared a wa-
ter emergency Aug. 6 after
the level in the city’s mil-
lion-gallon water reservoir
dropped to 1.5 feet over the
Aug. 4-5 weekend. Water
tenders hauled water from
John Day to Prairie City to
keep up with demand.
Recognizing the emer-
gency, the state agreed to
provide Prairie City up to
$1.5 million for the project,
with one-third as a grant and
the rest as a 30-year loan at
1.7 percent interest. Hamsh-
er said Scott Fairley at Busi-
ness Oregon told him the
water project was moving
Jim Hamsher
along at a fast pace, despite
a 950-page application.
Prairie City will also see
major improvements to its
sewer system, including new
booster pumps at the treat-
ment plant, about 1,500 feet
of new forced mains along
Highway 26 and new collec-
tor mains in parts of the city.
The funding and construc-
tion bids have already been
approved, he said.
A new U.S. Cellular tow-
er on city land will provide
the city with additional rev-
enue, Hamsher said. Attor-
neys are finalizing the con-
tracts, which he expected to
have signed by the end of
November, he said.
Fencing to be installed
on the north and south ends
of the city park will protect
children, Hamsher said. In-
stalling 15 winter-proof wa-
ter hook-ups and higher am-
perage services at the Depot
RV Park could significantly
increase revenue there, he
said.
There are signs of growth
in Prairie City — new busi-
nesses and three new homes
underway. But completing
the water and sewer projects
is essential to growing the
community, Hamsher said.
It’s hard to grow a city if it
can’t meet basic needs, he
said.
Monday - Thursday
7am- 6pm
Friday 8am - 5pm
Mendy Sharpe FNP
Apppointments
available
87812
Volunteers filling
a vital function
Leod-Skinner, 203,565 to
141,036
In uncontested Grant
County races:
• Brenda Percy was elected
county clerk with 2,938 votes.
• For three seats on the
Canyon City Council, Don
Mooney received 228, Jim
Johnston received 212 and
Francis Kocis received 201.
• Ilah Bennett was elected
mayor of Dayville with 62
votes.
• Emmaleigh Larson was
elected to Dayville City
Council Position 2 with 61
votes.
• Joseph Michael Letosky
was elected to Dayville City
Council Position 3 with 57
votes.
• Valli Hettinga was elect-
ed to Dayville City Council
Position 4 with 66 votes.
• Todd Lounsbury was
elected to one at-large seat on
the Granite City Council with
six votes. Two write-in votes
were received for another
open seat.
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