Few contests looming in local elections

Only a couple of local elections will be contested after filing ended Friday (May. 17) unless write-in candidates emerge.

Openings were available for town council positions in Twisp and Winthrop, and for the boards or commissions of the Methow Valley School District, Okanogan County Fire District 6, Cemetery Districts 1 and 2, and Hospital District 1. All the offices are non-partisan.

The following information is from the Okanogan County Auditor’s Office.

• In Winthrop, two-term Mayor Dave Acheson is not running again. Current council member and former mayor Sue Langdalen was the only one to file for the position, which carries a four-year term.

Incumbent council member Rick Northcott will be challenged by Vern Herrst for Position 1 and a four-year term.  Current council member Tiffany Langdalen did not file for re-election to Position 2. Michael Strulic was the lone person to file for that position, which comes with a four-year term.

No one filed for Position 4, currently held by Sue Langdalen. That position will be for two years because Langdalen was appointed after the previous council member in that seat, Lance Christensen, resigned. 

• In Twisp, the seats held by council members Bob Lloyd (Position 1) and Clint Estes (Position 2) will be up for election for four-year terms. Both filed for re-election; no one else filed for those positions. Also on the ballot is Position 5, a two-year term now filled by Clay Hill, who was appointed when Hans Smith resigned. Hill filed for re-election and will be challenged by Dwight Filer.

• In the Methow Valley School District, the four-year school board positions now held by Dana Stromberger (Position 2) and Gary Marchbank (Position 4) will be up for election. Both filed for re-election, and no one else filed for the positions.

• In Okanogan County Fire District 6, the six-year seat now held commissioner Darold Brandenburg (Position 2) will up for election. Brandenburg was the only one to file.

• In Hospital District 1 (Three Rivers Hospital in Brewster), the commission seats held by Jerry Tretwold (Position 2), Mike Pruett (Position 3) and chairman Dan Webster (Position 4) are up for election. The offices are for six years, except for Tretwold’s, which is a two-year term. Pruett and Tretwold both filed for re-election, and no one else filed for those positions. Webster did not file for re-election. Cherryl Thomas of Winthrop was the only person to file for Position 4.

• In Cemetery District 1 (Sullivan Cemetery, Winthrop), the six-year seat now held by Don Waller (Position 2) will be up for election. Waller was the only one to file.

• In Cemetery District 2 (Beaver Creek, Twisp), the two-year seat held by Carol Gaston of Twisp is up for election, as is the six-year term for Position 3 now held by Dick Webb of Twisp. Gaston and Webb both filed for re-election. No one else filed for the positions.

The current offices typically expire Dec. 31 and new or re-elected officials take office Jan. 1, 2014. There will be primary elections on Aug. 6 only if more than two candidates file for a position. The general election is on Nov. 5. For more information, call (509) 422-7244.

Becki Lockett Heath, supervisor of the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest – which includes the Methow Valley Ranger District – has been named deputy regional forester for the Oregon and Washington region of the U.S. Forest Service.

Heath will begin work July 1 as one of two deputy regional foresters in the region’s Portland headquarters. There are 16 national forests, a national scenic area and a national grassland comprising 24.7 million acres in Region 6, which has approximately 3,500 employees and a budget of $420 million.

“I am honored to have been selected to be a part of providing leadership to the Pacific Northwest Region,” Heath said. “I look forward to engaging with directors and programs for which I have responsibility. The Pacific Northwest is my home and I have tremendous loyalty to this region and its employees.”

Heath has been supervisor of the 4.1-million acre Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest since 2007. She is a career Forest Service employee who began working for the agency in 1980. She graduated from Oregon State University in 1976 with a bachelor of science degree in recreation and environmental Education. In 1980, she obtained a master of science degree in forest management from the University of Washington.

The Forest Service did not immediately name a replacement for Heath.

EARLIER ON THE WEB: Twin Lakes water-storage report under study

The initial analysis of a proposal to restore water in Big and Little Twin lakes by pumping it from the Methow River and storing it in the lakes has found the project would not affect the river or endangered salmon.

Aspect Consulting was asked to evaluate the project’s impact on channel-forming flows and salmon recovery by Okanogan County and the Washington Department of Ecology.

Aspect’s analysis determined that the diversions from the river would be so small that they would not affect the formation of channels at peak flows. The flows, which flush gravel in the river, are important to fish migration and spawning, according to Dan Haller, an environmental engineer with Aspect.

Aspect also analyzed whether the project would affect stream functions and fish passage and found that effects would be neutral.
The water would be pumped from an aquifer fed by the Methow River via a 2.3-mile buried pipeline for storage in the lakes.

Approximately 70 percent of it would return to the river and be available for mitigation of new downstream uses, according to the project design.

The county and state had previously found that the project could have a significant environmental impact and determined the need for an environmental impact statement. They are reviewing the consultant’s findings and will decide whether to proceed with the environmental review or change their determination, according to Joye Redfield-Wilder, public information manager for Ecology.