Griebel, Ensley, Crumpacker secure leads in Council races

Conniry-Lynn race too close to call after first general election results announced

By Angelo Bruscas • November 7, 2017 8:30 pm
Susan Conniry had a narrow lead over incumbent John Lynn for Ocean Shores City Council Position 1.
Susan Conniry had a narrow lead over incumbent John Lynn for Ocean Shores City Council Position 1.

Three candidates with prior local government experience had sizable leads in early general election returns for the four Ocean Shores City Council races on Tuesday, but the hotly contested race for Council Position 1 was too close to call as incumbent John Lynn trailed former mayoral candidate Susan Conniry by 16 votes.

Lynn, seeking his third term, had 747 votes (49.47 percent) in first returns, while Planning Commission member Conniry (763 votes/50.53 percent) maintained the narrow lead with more ballots expected to be counted by Wednesday.

For Position 3, appointed council member Lisa Griebel (779 votes/54.32 percent) was leading Canterbury Inn manager Shannon Rubin (655 votes/45.68 percent).

For the Position 5 contest, former city finance director Steve Ensley (791 votes/55.47 percent) was leading former councilman Randy Scott (635 votes/44.53 percent).

For Position 7, former council member Robert Crumpacker (839 votes/58.55 percent) was leading political newcomer Carlos Roldan (594 votes/41.45 percent).

The Grays Harbor County Auditor’s Office has said the next ballot total update will be at 4 p.m. on Wednesday. County-wide, voter turnout was 28 percent for the general election, but more ballots will come in in the next several days.

In the North Beach School District, all four candidates were running unopposed: Jeff Wilson for Director District 1 (two-year term); Linda Poplin for District 2, Rachel Carl for District 3, and Phil Hiam for District 5.

For North Beach area fire districts, two candidates were running for the Fire District No. 8 Position 1: Stephanie Allestad of Pacific Beach had a sizable lead with 103 votes (58.19 percent) over Clinton Davis (74 votes/41.81 percent) of Moclips. For Fire District No. 7, Joseph Fernandez (73 votes/43.98 percent) was trailing Jim Richards (93 votes/56 percent) for Commissioner Position 3 (a four-year unexpired term), while Darrell Haglund had no opposition for Position 2 (6-year term).

In Taholah, all four candidates for the Taholah School Board were running unopposed: Merian C. Juneau for Position 2, Kathleen Law for Position 3, Tony M. Kramer for Position 4, and Gina James for Position 5.

For the Quinault School District, both Anita Blackburn and David Christiansen also were unopposed for the two school director positions.