Matter, Hutchins win Havre races

Three weeks after some 3,635 ballots were mailed out to active registered voters across the city, Havre elected two new City Council members Tuesday, and rejected a proposed $30 million street reconstruction mil levy.

The nonpartisan elections were a mostly low key affair, with few major differences between the candidates and

without the onslaught of ads that characterize state and national elections.

In the open Havre City Council race in Ward 1, Ed Matter, a former school board member and retired radio station manage, beat out Doug Vance, an engineer and vice president of Heberly & Associates, 444 to 283.

"I am thinking about the lady I am replacing," said Matter, referring to Pam Hillery, who holds the Ward 1 seat, but opted not to seek re-election. "It's kind of humbling to take her place."

Political newcomer Caleb Hutchins pulled off a win against J.D. Cass, a retired train conductor, in the race for the Ward 3 council seat. Hutchins, who had the backing of retiring three-term council member Allen "Woody" Woodwick, received 334 votes to Cass's 214.

"I am very excited and a little nervous about getting started because this is a new experience," said Hutchins early this morning regarding his victory. He said he had gone to bed prior to the results in his race being announced at about 11:30 p.m.

Council members Brian Barrows of Ward 2 and Andrew Brekke of Ward 4 were also up for re-election, facing no challenger.

Any suspense there was in Havre's elections revolved around the proposed $30 million, 20-year mill levy aimed at reconstructing the city's deteriorating streets. The proposal had the backing of all council members with the exception of Brekke, along with all four candidates vying for the two open seats.

Supporters of the measure said the money accrued from increased property taxes would have allowed the city to begin repairing its streets, some of which had not been done in 70 years. But those skeptical of the proposal, and critics who said the levy, would raise property taxes too much, won out in the long run.

In the end, the mill levy proposal went down 1,199 to 948.

Hutchins and Matter, who had thrown their support behind the mill levy said that while they were disappointed in the outcome, they understood that the additional property taxes, that would have averaged an extra $200 in annual property taxes was hard for some voters to swallow.

"It was a hard decision for people to pay that amount," said Matter. "And not just for a year or two, but 20 years."

Looking ahead, the city and its elected officials face the challenge of finding another way to upgrade its infrastructure, while placing less of a burden on property owners. As Hutchins put it: "We're going to have to do something one way or another."

Outside of Havre, the only other races in Hill County were two city alderman races in Hingham, where both Dan Horinek and David George were elected to four-year terms as Alderman, receiving 33 and 36 votes, respectively.

Blaine County

There were no contested races for city council in the cities of Chinook or Harlem.

In West Chinook's Ward 1, Christine Thurman, who had no opponent, received 142 votes. East Chinook Ward 2 had two races with Clint Greytak coasting to victory with 113 votes, while Mitch Haider won a two-year unexpired term with 121 votes.

The City of Harlem also had two city council races with no opposition. In East Harlem Ward 1 Kim Hansen sailed to a win with 65 votes, while in West Harlem Marc Arensmeyer received 46 votes.

Liberty County

In the city of Chester there were four races for alderman and one for mayor with no candidates having any opponent.

Mayor Noel Watkins coasted to a second term with 225 votes. There were also four city alderman races: Darin Scott Ross received 57 votes in Ward 1, Adam Standiford 76 votes in Ward 1, Tina Neer 59 votes in Ward 2, and Rachel Griekiere 81, in Ward 5.

Fort Belknap:

The large number of uncontested races in Blaine, Hill and Liberty counties were in stark contrast to Fort Belknap, which saw eight contested races.

Donovan D. Archmbault beat Franklin "Randy" R. Perez for one Assiniboine at-large representative position, 708 to 632. In the other Assiniboine representative at-large race, Curtis Horn pulled out an eight-vote win against Gerald "Manny" Healy Jr., 308 to 300.

Incumbent Alvin "Jim" Kennedy fended off a challenge from William T. "Snuffy" Main for one Gros Ventre at-large representative, 835 to 523. A much narrower victory was had by John K Hawley who took out Michael Gopher Fox 398 to 348 for the other Gros Ventre representative-at-large position.

Kyle "Wheels" Bigby prevailed against John A. Alle, 226 to 149, in a contest for River Assiniboine district representative. In the River Gros Ventre district representative race Dominic R. Messerly routed Patricia "Patty" Quisno 219 to 160.

For Mountain-Assiniboine district representative, Lynn Cliff Jr. routed David Crasco, 145 to 75. And in the race for Mountain-Gros Ventre district representative, Warren D. Morin pulled off a win against Geno V. Levaldo, 193 to 178.