Lincoln County Clerk Dana Jenkins says although they’re still counting November 6th votes at the courthouse it appears that Siletz won’t be going without a Mayor even though no one filed to officially get on the ballot. John Robinson, however, appears to be comfortably ahead of former Mayor Leslie Button in the race for mayor, 75 to 41 votes. Mayor Button earlier said she wanted to step aside to give an opportunity for someone else to grab the city council gavel. It appears that someone else is Mr. Robinson.

In Toledo, banker Alma Baxley got the most write in votes for a vacant city council, one of three.

Share on Facebook

Bill Hall, still County Commissioner

With 87% of the vote counted by midnight, County Commissioner Bill Hall was well ahead of Republican challenger Tom Runions, a perennial challenger who files for the county commission because as Runions frequently says, “somebody ought to run against the incumbent.” Hall told News Lincoln County that he was saddened by the Children’s Trust property tax override going down to defeat. He said “although the measure failed, it won’t be in vain. It has laid the groundwork for a future success.”

Hall said the next four years for him as a county commissioner is to do what he can to help preserve what he termed “vulnerable services” that are funded through the county’s general fund. Among them are the Sheriff’s Department, the jail, roads and certainly human services. Hall said he was heartened to learn that Benton County voters re-ratified an ongoing property tax override for county services that includes funds paying for housing some of Benton County’s jail inmates in the Lincoln County jail, a revenue source important to Lincoln County to keep our own jail open and running at full capacity. Hall said if the Benton County override measure had failed, it may have adversely affected payments to Lincoln County, forcing severe cutbacks in our own jail budget.

David Gomberg with Rep. Jean Cowan

Democrat David Gomberg of Lincoln City won his race for Oregon House District 10 over Republican challenger Jerome Grant of Depoe Bay. Gomberg now inherits the seat being vacated by long time Representative Jean Cowan who told a crowd of supporters at the Rogue House on Newport’s Bayfront Tuesday night that she feels very relieved that the voters picked Gomberg to succeed her, calling Gomberg a person who is knowledgeable in the ways of the state capitol and who will serve the Central Coast well. Across Oregon, Democrats regained control of both the Oregon House and the Senate. Senate democratic candidate republica Arnie Roblan defeated Scott Roberts to walk across the hall to the Senate side of the Capitol.

Representative-elect David Gomberg with wife Susan

A bit on Mr. Gomberg from his website

Gomberg graduated from Oregon State where he served as student body president, and earned a Master Degree in Economics, History, and Political Science. He received an MBA from Willamette University and then worked two sessions in the Oregon legislature – first as a legislative chief-of-staff, and then as administrator of the House Education Committee. Later, he served as an Administrative Law Judge for the Motor Vehicles Division before moving to the Coast to take a position as Executive Director of the Lincoln City Chamber of Commerce. Two years later, he left to focus on his own business.

“With Jean (Cowan’s) retirement, we’re losing experience, seniority, and a strong voice for Coastal concerns,” Gomberg said My own work in the legislature and with administrative rules was a long time ago. But it will give me a head start on the job to which I have been elected.”

Sandra Roumagoux, Mayor Elect??

Several races were still undecided as of midnight, including the run for the mayor of Newport. City Councilor Sandra Roumagoux led fellow councilor Jeff Bertuleit by less than a hundred votes with probably a couple hundred votes still uncounted. If Roumagoux hangs onto her lead, it would leave four city council seats open. Incumbent councilor Dean Sawyer, along with council candidates Ralph Busby, Laura Swanson and former mayor Bill Bain would be expected to fill those four vacancies. If Bertuleit wins, it would leave Roumagoux as a city councilor, thereby leaving only three vacancies on the council which would mean Laura Swanson, incumbent councilor Dean Sawyer and Ralph Busby assuming seats on the council.

For Depoe Bay Mayor, incumbent Carol Connors was trailing Jim Mattila by just 61 votes. The final tally could make it very close. For Depoe Bay City Council Brent Berry led Ted Lewis by a mere 16 votes. Incumbent councilor Skip Hoitink led challenger Carrie Philpott by nearly 100 votes.

In the race for Yachats Mayor, incumbent Ron Brean led challenger Larry Nixon 304 to 141. Both Yachats city council candidates Lynne Dimmick and Sandy Dunn won seats on the council.

Sheriff Dennis Dotson

And Sheriff Dennis Dotson was overwhelmingly re-elected as the county’s top lawman. There is not enough uncounted votes will change the outcome in that race.

The anti-Citizens United advisory measure passed by a wide margin, indicating that Lincoln County voters support a U.S. Constitution amendment to overturn the “Citizens United” Supreme Court Case that gave “personhood” to corporations and therefore unlimited rights to flood our elections with mountains of corporate money to pound us to death with frequently misleading and over the top political ads.

The Lincoln County Animal Shelter tax maintenance issue is still in the plus counter, but with roughly 2,000 votes yet to be counted the outcome is not 100% known. Thus far, it leads by 11-hundred votes.

The Yachats fire district measure passed easily as did the one for Seal Rock.

All three candidates for Waldport City Council know what they’ll be doing on the afternoons of the second Thursday of the month – filling seats on the city council. They are Peter Kelly, Mark Campbell and Pauline Gates.

All open city council seats in Lincoln City were filled by incumbents except for Wes Ryan who was the lone candidate in Ward 1.

Again, probably another 2,000 votes to count. We’ll see how they affect the final election results in the morning.

Share on Facebook

Rick Little with ODOT reports they’ve been plucking up a good number of political signs along state highway rights of way. Little says general elections involving a race for U.S. President seems to bring out more signs. He says ODOT crews have been on the lookout for signs within street, road and public rights of way. Here’s a quick primer on political sign placement:

The biggest concern with signs along a highway is safety. Signs can obstruct views and create distractions for motorists.

With all elections, but especially a Presidential Election, a proliferation of signs takes on increased scrutiny. If a political sign is in the ODOT right of way, we will remove it immediately if it’s a safety concern. If it does not pose an immediate safety concern, we’ll contact the campaign and ask for the sign’s removal. If the sign is not removed promptly, we’ll remove it. We always store signs confiscated from the ODOT right of way for 30 days at the District Headquarters. If the signs are not retrieved by then, we’ll destroy them.

Signs are prohibited on trees, utility poles, fence posts and natural features within the highway right of way. They are also prohibited within view of a designated scenic area.

In addition to signs in the ODOT right of way, there are rules affecting temporary political signs placed on private property visible from state highways.

–New signs are limited to 12 square feet.
–No flashing or intermittent lights, animated or moving parts are allowed.
–Signs must not imitate an official highway sign or device.
–Signs are not allowed in scenic corridors.

Checking with the county clerk’s office, they said that information is available on how to check where political signs can be placed relative to public rights of way along city, county and state roadways and highways.

Share on Facebook