Memorial Field tax levy passes

By DESIREÉ HOOD

Staff writer

SANDPOINT — Shelby Rognstad and Steve Geiger were elected as mayors of Sandpoint and Ponderay, respectively, as Bonner County voters headed to the polls in city elections. In addition, Barlow Stadium at War Memorial Field is looking at new grandstands after a 1-percen, five-year sales tax increase vote was approved by voters Tuesday.

All results are preliminary until they are canvassed on Nov. 10.

With the tax levy approved, construction will start immediately on the $2.72 million grandstands at War Memorial Field.

Mose Dunkel in Sandpoint received 628 votes, compared to Rognstad who received 1,126 votes. Write-in candidate Lenny Hess received 12 votes.

In Ponderay, challengers Phil McNearney and Karen Lee Engel had 23 and 33 votes, with Geiger collecting 57 votes.

Many candidates were running unopposed for their seats. In Sandpoint, Bill Aitken, Deb Fragoso and Thomas Eddy will remain on the City Council. With all five precincts reporting, they received 1,127, 1,201 and 1,211 votes respectively.

In Ponderay, Gary Kunzeman and Rick Larkin will be part of the City Council with 69 and 82 votes. Kunzeman is a new addition to the council, and Larkin is the incumbent.

For Clark Fork, Stanley Alan Spanski and Harold Hilton ran unopposed for City Council. They had 15 and 20 votes, respectively. 

Dover will have Mayor Annie Shaha remain in the seat running unopposed. She got 55 votes. The City Council will have Diane Brockway and Ruth Guthrie, both running unopposed. They received 45 and 55 votes, respectively.

All of the candidates in East Hope are unopposed. Vernon Fleisher will continue as mayor. He received 40 votes. Council members Deborah Field, John Thompson and Trecy Carpenter received 35, 36 and 28 votes, respectively.

In Hope, the City Council race was contested, with three candidates for two positions. Larry Bledsoe has 24 votes and Bruce Stutzke received 20 votes to claim the seats, with William Percy finishing with 19 votes. William Breen will continue as the mayor, with 36 votes.

The city of Kootenai will remain with Nancy Lewis as mayor. She had 42 votes. James Macha and Dan Schock were elected to the City Council, with 38 and 41 votes respectively.

Lonnie Orr ran unopposed for mayor of Oldtown. Orr received 9 votes. Susan Jones and Gene Scott also ran unopposed for the City Council. They got 7 and 9 votes, respectively.

Two council seats were available in Priest River, filled by Douglas Wagner and Greg Edwards, who ran unopposed. They received 95 and 46 votes, respectively. The sewer revenue bond for the town has 69 votes in favor and 48 votes against.

For the fire districts, all of the Commissioner seats were contested races. The Northside Fire District will see Ray Yaw as Commissioner No. 1. He received 248 votes, while challenger Tony Wuollet got 142 votes.

The Spirit Lake Fire District has voted in Mike Sexsmith with 151 votes as Commissioner No. 3. Challenger Chuck Hodge received 84 votes.

The Timberlake Fire District elected Byron Burrow as Commissioner No. 1. He received 26 votes against challenger Neil Peck, who got 1 vote.

The West Priest Lake Fire District will have John Phillips as Commissioner No. 3. He received 101 votes, against challenger Jim Peirone, who got 52 votes. The tax levy for the district is passing by a count of 83 in favor to 76 against.