Tuesday, Nov. 2 marked voting day for the 2021 municipal general election, with many seats in both Carbon and Emery counties open and ready to be claimed.
The unofficial results were released for both counties that evening. In Carbon County, a total of 1,808 ballots were cast. Beginning with Helper City, two seats were open for positions on the council. David Dornan, Bradley Shaw and Malarie Matsuda were all vying for the positions.
Dornan came out on top with 238 (34.69%) of the votes, followed closely by Matsuda at 228 (33.24%). Shaw rounded out the votes with 220 (32.07%).
Two council positions were also ready to filled for Price City, with Amy Knott-Jespersen, Terry Willis, Tanner Richardson and Joe Christman ready to fill the roles. Christman had the most votes with 513 (26.37%), followed by Knott-Jespersen with 502 (25.70%), Willis with 476 (24.37%) and Richardson at 460 (23.55%).
In elections for cities such East Carbon, Helper, Price and Wellington, the mayor positions ran unopposed and were not added to the ballot for that reason, which is allowed under Utah State Code.
The town of Scofield saw positions open for mayor and two council seats. Ron L. Richmond and Jim Levanger vied for the mayor’s seat, with Levanger coming out ahead at 56%, which was 14 of the votes. Richmond received 44% of the votes at 11.
For Scofield’s two free council seats, Brad Peacock, Dell William Snow and Liberty Utahna Smith put their names on the ballot. Smith was first with 19 votes, followed by Peacock with 16 and Snow with 10. This equates to 42.22%, 35.56% and 22.22%, respectively.
Wellington City had two four-year council seats and one two-year seat open for the taking. For the four-year position, Garrit Pell, William Zauss Barney and Jack Leon Clark were in the running.
Clark won the top vote with 217 (47.07%), followed by Zauss with 156 (33.84%) and Pell with 88 (19.09%). In the two-year term position, current Mayor Paula Noyes received 116 (40.28%) votes. However, Caleb Nelson, who was a write-in, earned 167 (57.99%) votes.
In Emery County, the votes counted began with Emery Town, with two individuals running for mayor. B. Jack Funk earned 63 votes while Amy K. Sundstrom ended with 42.
The Emery Town Council also had positions open for the council. Lindsay Wilson Edwards received 95 votes, Michael Christensen earned 89, write-in Kim Hansen had 20 and write-in Sam Payne had zero.
The Ferron and Castle Dale mayors both ran unopposed. Mayor Adele Justice of Ferron received 234 votes and Castle Dale City Mayor Danny R. VanWagoner ended the election with 276.
Positions were also open on Ferron City’s Council. Dell M. Mead earned the most votes in Ferron at 229. Mead was followed by Brad Richman at 161, Gerry Stotler at 138 and Randy Fox at 131.
Two candidates were in the running for the Orangeville City Mayor. They were Roger Swenson and David O. Robertson. Robertson saw the most votes with 222 while Swenson earned 126.
Two positions were open for the Orangeville City Council and Tracy Addley, Jerod G. Curtis, Thayne Cox and Carole Larsen were all in the running. Addley earned 238 of the votes while Larsen received 229, Cox earned 135 and Curtis received 80.
Castle Dale also had two positions available for the city council and four candidates vying for the spot. They were Ted Allen, Michael Jorgensen, Julie Johansen and Mindy Jackson. Jorgensen had 279 votes, followed by Johansen with 160, Jackson with 142 and Allen with 98.
Finally, two hopefuls signed up for Green River Mayor while two seats were available for the Green River City Council. Ren Lloyd Hatt received the most mayoral votes in Green River at 163 while current Mayor Travis Bacon earned 24 votes.
Larry Packer, Amanda Dinkins, Michael Silliman and Ben Lehnhoff were in the running for Green River City Council. Packer received the most at 145, followed by Lehnhoff at 83, Silliman at 72 and Dinkins at 69.