Two city council seats may also change hands
MEDICAL LAKE – Challengers in at least three races have resounding leads in their bids to unseat incumbent elected city officials following the initial count of the Nov. 2 general election returns.
In the mayoral race, challenger Terri Cooper leads has 412 votes (62.61%) while incumbent Shirley Maike has 234 votes (36%) of the total 668 ballots.
Four write-in votes have also counted in the mayoral race.
Of the 2,991 registered voters in Medical Lake, 22.33% of voters showed up as of Tuesday, election officials said.
Cooper’s platform is built on a foundation of helping small business and public safety.
She wants to develop a municipal police department so the city won’t have to depend on contracting the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office for law enforcement.
Cooper confidently said she is “ready and excited to put 23 years of municipal government administration experience and two advanced degrees in public administration and business to work for the people.”
Incumbent Mayor Shirley Maike was not available for comment at press time.
Cooper said she is “pro-improvement, but not pro-growth” and is ready to begin discussing projects to beautify the downtown area and attract more businesses.
Two city council seats are being led by challengers.
Council Position No. 2 incumbent Elizabeth Rosenbeck trails challenger Dawn Olmstead, who has 413 voters (66.40%).
Rosenbeck had 204 votes (32.8%).
There were also five write-in ballots cast so far.
In the race for Position No. 3 on the council, Challenger Bob Maxwell is looking to unseat incumbent Councilman Arthur “A.J” Burton.
Maxwell had 400 votes (66.56%); Burton received 195 votes (32.45%).
Six ballots were cast for write-in candidates.
In the third contested race, incumbent Donald Kennedy was holding a strong lead for his Position No. 1 seat.
As of the end of counting Tuesday night, he was leading Howard Griffith by a vote count of 384 (64.43%) for Kennedy to 207 (34.73%) for Griffith.
Incumbent Tony Harbolt ran unopposed for the council Position No. 4 seat.
Chad Pritchard will remain in the Position No. 7 seat as he also was unopposed in the election.
There are still 17,000 ballots left to count throughout the entirety of Spokane County; they will be counted in the coming days until certification.
Matthew O. Stephens can be reached at reporter2@cheneyfreepress.com
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