by John Dowd, Editor
Ravalli County municipal elections were held last week. There were a total of 5303 registered voters in Stevensville, Hamilton and Darby. 1,852 votes were cast, with a mere 34.92% of the voter base casting ballots in the all-mail-in general election.
In Hamilton, Mayor Dominic Farrenkopf was easily re-elected with 928 votes, accounting for 82.20% of the votes. The write-in total was 201, representing 17.80% of the vote for mayor.
Hamilton Mayor Dominic Farrenkopf retained his seat, overcoming a write-in challenge by Jim Olsen.
For Hamilton City Council, the Ward 1 position went to Kristi Bielski, who received 307 of the votes, accounting for 94.17% of the vote, while there were only 19 write-in votes, accounting for 5.83% of the vote. For Ward 2, Rod Pogachar received 242 votes, 94.53%, against 14 write-in votes. These accounted for 5.30%. Darwin Ernst received 250 votes for Ward 3, 94.70%. The write-ins totaled 14, or 5.30%.
In Stevensville, a new mayor was elected. James (Jim) Crews, received 252, or 49.03% of the votes, while Bob Michalson had 247, or 48.05% of the vote. The candidates were within a percent of each other, and within five votes. Write-ins for the position accounted for 15 votes, or 2.92%.
Jim Crews, a former mayor of Stevensville, defeated Mayor Bob Michalson in a very close race. Star file photo.
For the Stevensville Town Council, Melissa Bailey defeated Stacie Barker, the incumbent, for Ward 1 with 153 votes, accounting for 56.04% of the votes cast. Barker received 119 votes, or 43.59%. Stevensville Ward 2 will retain Samantha Bragg, who received 153 votes, or 96.23% of the vote. There were 6 write-in votes, accounting for 3.77% of the vote.
In Darby, the community voted to adopt the revised charter, as put forth by the Darby Study Commission. The adoption passed with 93 total votes, accounting for 55.36% of votes cast, against 75 votes, or 44.64% choosing to retain the current charter.
However, the Darby community voted down all the other recommendations made by the Darby Study Commission. Darby voted against changing council positions to “at-large” elections, with 77 votes, or 44.77% for the change, and 95, or 55.23% against the change.
For sub-option 2, Darby voted to keep all executive and legislative powers within the council. The vote was 79, or 45.14% for separating powers between the council and mayor, and 96, or 54.86% against.
For sub-option 3, Darby voted to keep the length of the mayoral term to two years per term. 70, or 40.46%, voted to change to four years, while the majority, 103, or 59.54%, voted for two-year terms.
Finally, Darby voted, under sub-option 4, that the current council and mayor shall continue in their offices until their respective terms end. After that, the new terms would take effect. This passed by 91 total votes, accounting for 52.30% of the vote, against 83, or 47.70% of the vote to call for a new election. However, since the citizens voted against making any changes to eligibility or term lengths, the current process for elections remains unchanged.