Voter turnout was strong in the Grand Junction municipal election, with the mayor and the council races contested.
In the mayoral race, Brock Lyons was elected with 117 votes (55.45 percent), with Teresa Lansman, who was appointed at mayor last winter when mayor Dave Kersey resigned, getting 89 votes (42.18 percent).
Three council persons were elected form a field of six candidates. Andrew Krieger (147 votes, 24.14 percent), Randy Frantz (137 votes, 22.5 percent), and Pierre J. Kellogg (94 votes, 15.44 percent) were elected to the council. Jeff Strabley was just one vote behind Kellogg with 93 votes (15.27 percent). Kenneth Madesen received 80 votes (13.14 percent) and Jacob Fester received 32 votes (5.25 percent). Twenty-six write-in votes were cast.
Both ballot propositions dealing with the composition and terms of office of library trustees were approved. Proposition D received 152 “yes” votes and 31 “no” votes. Proposition E received 132 “yes” votes and 36 “no” votes.
In Grand Junction 214 ballots were cast for a voter turnout of 42.29 percent.
Voter turnout was 27.20 percent in Scranton. The mayoral race was contested, although incumbent Randy Winkleman did not seek re-election. Cole Gustoff won that race with 71 votes (75.53 percent). Jerry L. Erwin received 16 votes (17.02 percent). There were seven write-ins.
Scranton voters elected two council persons with three names on the ballot. Jerald R. Boyd received 78 votes (45.61 percent) and David M. Dideriksen received 55 votes (32.16 percent). Marcia VanCannon received 36 votes (21.05 percent). Ashley Squibb was elected to fill a vacancy. She received 49 votes (62.03 per cent), with 30 write-in votes cast.
In Paton, where there was no candidate for mayor, 42 persons voted for a turnout of 28.77 percent. Thirty-five wrote in their choice for mayor. Voters elected two city council members with two names on the ballot. Diane Hanlon received 24 votes and Jeff Headley received 19 votes. A total of 36 write-in votes were cast for city council, so it is possible that one of the persons named on the ballot was not elected. Write-in results won’t be available until Wednesday afternoon.
There were eight ballots cast in Dana. Mandy Sims was elected mayor with eight votes. Anthony Sims was elected to the council with eight votes and Chris Vargas was elected with six votes. Those eight voters represent 25.9 percent of the total registered voters.
Nineteen Rippey voters participated in the election for a voter turnout of 11.95 percent.
Incumbent mayor Daniel Brubaker was unopposed and received 17 votes. Garry Higgins was elected to the city council with 19 votes. Donald Carpenter was elected with 18 votes.
Incumbent mayor of Churdan, Joleen Killeen, was re-elected with 24 votes. She was unopposed. Nick Christensen and Heidi Geisler each received 23 votes for city council. A total of 27 ballots were cast for 10.59 percent voter turnout.
With no contested races, voter turnout in Jefferson was only 6.63 percent. Of 3,121 registered voters, 207 cast ballots.
Voters elected three council members with three names on the ballot. Newcomer Matt Gordon received 176 votes, longtime incumbent Larry Teeples received 164 votes, and Harry Ahrenholtz received 162 votes to begin his second term. Matt Wetrich received 161 votes to fill a position from District 2 to which he was appointed after Dan Benitz resigned in May.
Results are not yet available from Paton. There were no names on the ballot for mayor, requiring manual tabulation of votes.
All results are unofficial until the county supervisors canvass the vote next Monday.
