Incumbents fare well in Shoshone County
Eight elections for 10 contested seats were during Tuesday’s election in Shoshone County.
The Kellogg and Wallace School Districts also asked their communities to fill in their budget gaps with two-year, supplemental levies.
Seven incumbent candidates were featured, with five winning their reelection bids.
The following information remains unofficial until it can be officially canvassed in the coming days.
The city of Pinehurst was the crux of seven different races, with three city council seats, three school board zone trustees, and the mayoral race, as well as the KSD’s levy.
Skip Robinett won the mayoral contest, garnering nearly 68% of the votes and beating incumbent Russ Lowe.
Former Pinehurst mayor and county commissioner Jay Huber secured a two-year seat on the city council, winning a narrow race against Brandon Church and Dan Garner, grabbing 142 votes to Church’s 132, and securing 44.3% of the votes. Garner finished a distant third.
Incumbents Kyle Ross and Nick Elam, with 234 and 183 votes respectively, will serve four-year terms on the city council, defeating Heather Bauer.
Kellogg School District’s trustee races featured Zones 3, 4, and 5, each of them containing a section of the city of Pinehurst.
Incumbent Sam Gibbons was the winner in Zone 3 with 236 (65.9%) of the votes to challenger Sarah Frohlich's 122 votes.
“Thank you to everyone who supported me with my school board run and who entrusted me with your votes,” Frohlich wrote to her supporters on Facebook after the election. “I have learned a lot about the school district, the community and myself throughout this endeavor and can say I am better for it. I hope our children will reap the benefit from the votes and the issues brought forward.”
Alexa Griffin and David Hernandez battled it out for the KSD trustee seat in Zone 4. Griffin won with 163 votes (63.6%) to Hernandez’s 93.
“I cannot even begin to express my appreciation for all of the support that I received during this election. It truly means the world to me,” Griffin said. “I look forward to making sure that the Kellogg School District remains a safe and supportive environment for all children to receive a quality education, a safe work environment for our amazing teachers and staff, and a district that our community can be proud of.”
The race for Zone 5 had three candidates and was the lone trustee race that bled into Kootenai County. Encompassing the majority of Kingston, a small part of Pinehurst, Cataldo, Rose Lake and surrounding areas
Challenger John Schroeder defeated fellow challenger Melanie Carter and incumbent Felicia Cassidy. Schroeder received just under 50% of the votes in Shoshone County with 103, while Carter and Cassidy received 53 and 54 votes each respectively. Schroeder pulled away once the Kootenai County ballots were added, securing an additional 98 votes to Carter and Cassidy’s 24 and 19, for a final count of 198 votes for Schroeder, and 77 and 73 for Carter and Cassidy.
The city of Kellogg saw two new challengers for the open city council position, as Lori Teeters firmly secured the seat with 273 votes to Ron Zetterberg's 97 votes.
“I want to express to the city of Kellogg residents that voted for me how much I appreciate your support,” Teeters said. “An election is never won without the hard work and dedication of those around you, and I'm super fortunate to be surrounded by great people. I commend anyone that steps up to run for an elected position, it's not easy to put yourself out there, so kudos to all the candidates that ran, and a big congratulations to all the winners.”
The tightest race in the county belonged to the city of Osburn, with incumbent Laurie Richardson and challengers Ron Hood, Randy Cloos, and Jeremy Bergem all vying for two open four-year terms.
Richardson secured the most votes with 130 (32.2%), but the second seat was decided by just eight votes with Randy Cloos receiving 95 votes, beating Bergem's 91 votes and Hood's 87.
City Council Seat 3 in Wallace was won by Cindy Lien who received 103 (64.3%) of the votes to Christine Berry's 57 votes.
The Kellogg Joint School District's $5,916,800 two-year supplemental levy which will bring an additional $2,958,400 per year in additional property tax revenue into the district passed by a large margin. In Shoshone County, 911 voters were in favor of the levy, while 486 voted against it. Kootenai County voters living within the district's boundaries also passed the levy, 94-53.
“Our community continues to demonstrate its unwavering commitment to our children. With the levy’s passage, the district can preserve its program offerings and current staffing,” wrote KSD Superintendent Lance Pearson on the district's Facebook page. “We are grateful to all of the local residents who voted and demonstrated their support for the Kellogg School District supplemental levy and trustee candidates.”
The Wallace School District's $3.4 million two-year supplemental levy also passed comfortably with almost 70% of the voters being in favor of the levy. The final tally was 416 in favor compared to 185 voting against.
“I understand that many of us are struggling to make financial ends meet,” WSD Superintendent Todd Howard wrote Wednesday. “Your willingness to make this extra investment in our education system does not go unnoticed. It is my promise that the Wallace School District will continue to use our levy funds as stated on the ballot.”
Griffin
Gibbons
Schroeder
Jay Huber
Elam
Ross and his wife
Teeters
Lien
Richardson
Robinett