Voters send Rigby and Don to county commission; two mayors re-elected and money measures split

By Lincoln Chronicle staff

Lincoln County voters elected two new county commissioners, a handful of mayors and lots of city council members as the second of five days of ballot tallies were released Wednesday night in Tuesday’s general election. The second round of counting showed no changes in winners or losers from Tuesday night.

The ballot measures for an infrastructure bond in Newport won handily but one to repair or replace the city hall in Lincoln City lost badly.

The county clerk’s office released its first results from ballots that had been counted by 8 p.m. Tuesday and then a second round after 5 p.m. Wednesday. The next count will be released at 5 p.m. Friday and then not again until Tuesday, Nov. 10. The Lincoln County clerk’s office said 88 percent of all ballots had been counted after the second round of releases.

Lincoln County commission

In two races for Lincoln County commissioner, Cathie Rigby soundly defeated incumbent Casey Miller for a four-year term in Position 1 and Cristen Don easily won over Joe Steere for the remaining two years of a Position 2 term.

The election of Rigby and Don mean the Board of Commissioners will have an entirely new look with three new members in January after former sheriff Curtis Landers ousted appointed incumbent Walter Chuck in the May primary.

Position 1:

Cathie Rigby: 10,377 Wednesday; 9,036 Tuesday

Casey Miller: 6,965 Wednesday; 5,633 Tuesday

Rigby: “People responded to a message of positivity, hard work and hope for things to be better.” Miller: Was still processing the results Tuesday night but said he is devoted to doing the best work he could for the remainder of his term. “I’ve put so much into this it’s going to take a while to figure out what’s next and what my identity will be after this.” Position 2:

Cristen Don: 10,670 Wednesday; 9,308 Tuesday

Joe Steere: 6,416 Wednesday; 5,147 Tuesday

Don: “I feel good so far and I’m waiting for the official results but it’s encouraging to see.”

City of Newport

Mayor Jan Kaplan was re-elected to a second two-year term and two of three incumbent councilors were re-elected as four candidates ran for three at-large council seats.

Mayor

Jan Kaplan: 2,169 Wednesday; 1,799 Tuesday

Sandy Roumagoux: 1,063 Wednesday; 883 Tuesday

Kaplan: “I feel really happy.” He was also celebrating the bond passing. “I knew it would pass but I didn’t expect it to pass so well and I think we did a good job getting the message across.”

City Council (Top three elected)

Angel Aparicio-Reyes: 2,268 Wednesday; 1,859 Tuesday

CM Hall: 2,115 Wednesday; 1,769 Tuesday

David Allen: 1,973 Wednesday; 1,631 Tuesday

Robert Edmond: 1,554 Wednesday; 1,281 Tuesday

Newport $38 million infrastructure bond

Yes: 2,754 Wednesday; 2,285 Tuesday

No: 660 Wednesday; 531 Tuesday

Lincoln City

Incumbent Mayor Susan Wahlke defeated challenger and city councilor Marci Baker for another four-year term and there was only one contested race for the city council to join unopposed Stephen Percy as new members of the council.

Mayor

Susan Wahlke: 1,756 Wednesday; 1,575 Tuesday

Marci Baker: 1,429 Wednesday; 1,179 Tuesday

Wahlke: “I’m looking forward to continuing to work and there are lots of things on the horizon I want to see through.” Wahlke wasn’t surprised the bond failed because the community had a lot of questions. She now wants to have a more fine-tuned plan and outreach before putting the bond before voters again.

City Council

Ward II

Carolyn Nguyen: 602 Wednesday; 522 Tuesday

Taylor Krueger: 466 Wednesday; 412 Tuesday

Lincoln City $53 million city hall bond

Yes: 1,114 Wednesday; 958 Tuesday

No: 2,265 Wednesday; 1,967 Tuesday

Waldport

In Waldport where the council and city government has been in turmoil for two years, city council supporter Jan Hansen kept her lead Wednesday in the race for mayor and there will be at least two new members of the six-member council.

Mayor

Jan Hansen: 362 Wednesday; 350 Tuesday

Tony Thimakis: 276 Wednesday; 253 Tuesday

Silas Lester: 62 Wednesday; 59 Tuesday

Hansen: “If it is a victory” – when the final votes are counted – “I appreciate their vote of confidence and will do my best to justify it.”

City Council (Top three elected)

Michelle Severson: 364 Wednesday; 343 Tuesday

Wendy Rush Knudsen: 358 Wednesday; 343 Tuesday

Laura Matthews: 344 Wednesday; 318 Tuesday

Cathy Starr: 268 Wednesday; 248 Tuesday

Philip DeGeorge: 247 Wednesday; 227 Tuesday

Susan Swander: 244 Wednesday; 236 Tuesday

Yachats

There is less drama in Yachats, where city councilor Nichole Hedlund ran unopposed for a two-year term as mayor and three people sought two at-large positions on the city council.

Mayor

Nicole Hedlund: 428 Wednesday; 412 Tuesday

City Council (Top two elected)

Catherine Whitten-Carey: 356 Wednesday; 345 Tuesday

Kathy Theilacker: 311 Wednesday; 297 Tuesday

Bob Barrett: 223 Wednesday; 215 Tuesday

Toledo

The only contested city of Toledo race was for mayor between appointed incumbent Tracy Mix and Frank Silvia III, who resigned from the council earlier this year. Three council seats had unopposed candidates so Nathan Keel will join incumbents Eric Chambers and Jackie Burns on the council in January.

Mayor

Tracy Mix: 638 Wednesday; 403 Tuesday

Frank Silvia III: 396 Wednesday; 235 Tuesday

Depoe Bay

The Depoe Bay city council and administration has also been in upheaval, but races for mayor and four of six council seats were unopposed. Andrew Dembosky will be the only new member of the council in January, joining mayor Joe Cannon and councilors Dave Pacific, Paul Banas and David Breitigam.

Siletz:

Mayor Will Worman ran unopposed as did incumbent councilors Erik Maiorano and Isaac Deanda, who will be joined by newcomer Misty Logan in January.