COQUILLE — Bucking the national enthusiasm for change, Coquille voters decided to keep existing city leadership on Tuesday. Mayor Steve Britton and all three city council incumbents retained their seats.

Despite the vote tally, there will be at least one change on the council. Councilor Fran Capehart said incumbent  Kathy Hagen, the second-highest vote winner, has moved outside the city limits. So the council will have to select someone to fill her seat. Capehart said she wasn’t sure how that selection would take place.

Dian Courtright gathered the fourth-highest vote tally. With Hagen ineligible, Courtright contended she has earned the right to serve.

“I think I’ve won,” she said. “Her name should not have been on the ballot.”

Even so, Courtright said she had expected the incumbents would lead the way.

“I did the best I could,” she said. “It wasn’t that unpredictable.”

Britton and opponent Mike Reaves ran a contentious race, with the two men’s histories as law officers playing a big part in the debate. With nearly all votes counted, Britton was ahead 1,152 to 387, or roughly 74 percent to 25 percent.

In the city council race, E.N. “Corky” Daniels gathered 893 votes, followed by Hagen with 780 and Capehart with 738. Courtright received 679. Amanda Davidson and John Spencer rounded out the council race, with 568 votes and 489 votes.

Daniels said once the final council lineup is set, it will be business as usual for the new council.

“We have to continue with the ongoing projects we have in motion now,” he said.

He wants to keep utilities and street repair work on the city’s priority list and keep working on getting the sewer plant upgrade beyond the planning stage and into construction stage.

Capehart said she wasn’t surprised voters chose to have her continue service to the city.

“I’ve already been there,” she said. “We’ll just keep doing the things  we have been doing.”

Davidson said she wasn’t disappointed in the result and added that the current council does a good job.

“I’m tickled that I got as many votes as I did,” she said.

She said she will run again in the next election. Until then, she will continue to work for Coquille.

“I will work hard to make it a better place, whether I’m on the council or not,” she said.

Spencer, too wants to make a go of it in the next election. He said he was disappointed, but not surprised at the election results.

“I was hoping to try to make some positive change,” he said. “I will do everything to live up to their standards,” he said.

— Jolene Guzman

Lakeside will see new faces on council

Lakeside re-elected Mayor Orville Nelson in Tuesday’s election, but the city’s council will look quite different come January.

Mack Eubanks was the only incumbent to retain his position. The rest will be new faces on the council.

Nelson defeated two challengers, winning with 368 votes to Darline Atkin’s 302 and Ed Gowan’s 161.

Rod Schilling took the two-year council seat with 468 votes to Buford Gould Jr.’s 254 votes.

For the three four-year council seats Eubanks lead the way with 499 votes. Elaine Armstrong followed with 456 and Chrysta Swift won the last seat with 427 votes. Gary Wilson had 349 votes and Benny Henry, 258.

Nelson, who still is recovering from injuries he suffered a vehicle accident in early September, said the new team seems ready to move the city forward.

He said Lakeside needs to work on its water system that isn’t providing adequate water flow to fire hydrants in the city, which increases homeowners’ insurance costs.

“We’ve got some tough things,” he said. “It’s going to be a job, but I’m confident we can do it.”

An attempt to annex areas around Tenmile Lakes into the Lakeside Rural Fire Protection District failed Tuesday. Passage of the proposal, which would have doubled the size of the district, required approval in both the current district and the proposed annex. The measure failed in what would have been the additional section of the district by a margin of 49 yes votes to 63 no votes. The annexation won by a considerable margin in the current district with 63 percent voting yes and 37 percent voting no.

Fire Chief Ted Ross has said the district is stretching its resources responding to calls on the lake. The current tax revenue collected by the district is $102,400. Another $62,000 in revenue would have been collected if the proposal had passed.Reedsport

—  Jolene Guzman

Incumbents hold serve in Powers

Mayor Edward Hamlett held off a write-in campaign from the city’s former fire chief, Laural Dudley, and Phillip Wolcott, Mearl McDaniel Jr. and Robert Leckband retained their seats on the city council.

“I’ll be darned,” said Wolcott, who led among council candidates with 266 votes, or 31 percent. “I’m honored that they feel like I can do the job.”

McDaniel was second with 191 votes, 22 percent of the vote, and Leckband had 186. Challenger Joseph George fell about 30 votes short, attracting 155 tallies, or 18 percent.

Hamlett got 177 votes, 57 percent, while write-ins only added up to 133.

“I’m glad to see (the council) will stay together a little while longer,” he said. “I hope we can make a positive impact for the city of Powers.”

Both Hamlett and Wolcott said the biggest issue facing the city will be working on state-mandated sewer treatment plant upgrades.

Hamlett said the city’s average utility bill is $80 and may rise by $50 to $100, depending upon how much upgrades cost.

“We have to look into that pretty soon,” Wolcott said.

Results are with 97 percent of the vote tallied as of this morning.

— Alexander Rich

Ex-mayor wins city council seat

BANDON — Former councilman and onetime mayor Brian Vick will return to city office after winning a council seat Tuesday.

Vick garnered the most votes in Bandon’s City Council election Tuesday, followed closely by incumbent Geri Procetto and a newcomer to city politics, Claudine Hundhausen.

“I’m very grateful that I’ve been re-elected and I’m going to continue to do the best I can for Bandon,” Procetto said this morning.

“I don’t have an agenda, but I’m going to keep my eyes and ears open to make sure things continue to go well at the city in serving the citizens of Bandon,” Procetto added.

Procetto, 77, is a retired court reporter who has served on the council for 12 years and has lived in Bandon for 13.

Vick, 58, is a real estate sales broker and antique dealer and also serves on the Southern Coos Health District Board of Directors. He has lived in Bandon for 30 years.

Hundhausen, 62, is a homemaker who formerly worked in real estate. She has lived in Bandon for nine years and has been a board member for the Bandon Library Friends and Foundation for five years.

—  Amy Moss Strong

Johnson wins Myrtle Point mayor seat

Michael Johnson defeated Mike Lyon by 33 votes to become the new mayor of Myrtle Point.

Johnson garnered 359 votes to Lyon’s 326 to replace current Mayor Ed Cook who opted not to run for re-election.

Lyon will hold a seat on the council until Dec. 31 2010. He will be joined by Doug Veysey, who was the leading vote taker with 558 votes; Denise DeWald, who retained her seat with 482 votes; as well as incumbent Barbara Carter with 433 votes. Maureen Bergman rounded out the tally with 371 votes.

— Jolene Guzman

Elkton voters approves school bond

The Gardiner Sanitary District fell short in its effort to win a $2 tax increase from voters, and there will be no Lower Umpqua Rural Fire District. But Elkton will be able to repair its schools.

Gardiner’s bid to increase the tax by $2, to $3.49 per $1,000, failed 66-43.

The proposal to form the Lower Umpqua Rural Fire District was defeated 113-53.

Voters OK’d Elkton School District’s $1.2 million maintenance bond issue. It will allow the community to do repairs on the nearly century-old campuses.

A bond passage in the tiny town is a rare occurrence, said Elkton School District Superintendent Mike Hughes.

“This is the first bond passed in Elkton since 1951,” he said. “That was to build the high school gym.”

In Reedsport City Council races, incumbents Bill Otis and Bill Walker retained their seats, while Virginia Anderson captured the vacant Position No. 1 seat.

Mayor Keith Tymchuk, who ran unopposed, also will serve another term.

— Jack Carrerow, staff writer