By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

Voters gave a thumbs-down to hiring a county administrator Tuesday, with 1,192 voting no and 962 voting yes, despite Marion city council throwing support to hiring a county administrator.

City council members approved a resolution supporting creation of a county administrator position in April. In October, a city newsletter encouraged Marion residents to vote in support of creating a county administrator position.

Asked for comment on the administrator question, county commission chair Randy Dallke would only say, “The voters have spoken.”

Marion-Florence school board candidates Jan Helmer, Doug Regnier, and Katherine Young ran unopposed, with incumbents Regnier and Helmer receiving 528 votes and 518 votes respectively. Newcomer Young received 410.

Lou Thurston was a runaway winner for Hillsboro mayor Tuesday, taking 520 votes over Charlotte Kennedy Takahashi’s 200 votes.

“We’re extremely excited and also very humbled by the turnout,” Thurston said. “We’re looking forward to serving the people of Hillsboro.”

In other contested races, Kenneth Hoffman edged out John Branson 42-30 for Florence city council ward 1, and Matt Williams handily beat out Natasha Brenzikofer-Craig 57-6 for ward 2. Brenzikofer-Craig only recently moved to Florence and would have been ineligible to serve.

Incumbent Florence mayor Bob Gayle won 88 votes. Votes for write-in candidate Ban Ludwig were not available Tuesday night.

Evan Esau, with 66 votes, and Duane Adrian, with 58 votes, nudged out Michael Jost’s 40 votes for Goessel city council.

Peabody incumbent Larry Larsen retained his mayoral position with 93 votes, besting Steve Rose’s 61 votes.

Four of Ramona city council’s five positions will go to Mark Lockhart with 26 votes, Arthur Stroda with 25 votes, Billy Alcorn with 25 votes, and Benjamin Calvert with 19 votes. Rohani Alcorn and Jayme Brunner tied with 18 votes each for the remaining one position.

Peabody-Burns USD 398 seats were won by Tiana Gaines with 207 votes, Shayla Clark with 192 votes, and Julia Ensminger with 165 votes. Coming in last was Hope Reynolds with 118 votes.

Election results are unofficial until county commissioners canvass the votes Monday.