With unofficial results in, the City of Ketchikan has elected a new mayor, and will likely have two familiar names on the City Council. The preliminary votes in the three precincts were tallied just before 11pm Tuesday night.
Bob Sivertsen will be the city’s next mayor, receiving nearly 600 votes. The outstanding absentee and questioned ballots aren’t enough to push his competitor Janalee Gage, who received 322 votes, over the finish line. Sivertsen was at the White Cliff Building late Tuesday night when the votes came in.
“It’s real humbling when you get a turnout, and you become the top vote-getter in the race that you’re in,” Sivertsen said. “I just love it when we have elections and people turn out. We had a low turnout, but those that voted were informed and and expressed their right to vote.”
When asked what the beginning of his term would look like, he said he has big plans for office.
“Of course, some of it’s going to be catching up to where the council is now and get up to speed with all that, but we’re going to turn right around and start looking at the budget real close. So I think that’s the first order of business for the city,” said Sivertsen.
The other seats on the city ballot were for two full terms on the Council. The preliminary results show a precise tie between candidates Dick Coose and Jai Mahtani, who each tallied 381 votes. The other three candidates for the seats, Dion Booth, David Dentinger, and Michael Briggs trailed by about 100 votes or more, making it statistically possible but unlikely for them to overtake either of the two frontrunners
Mahtani was also present when the results came in.
“Thank you for believing in me to continue to do what is right for the city and the whole island of Ketchikan,” he said. “There are several issues this term. The budget is one of them, with a landslide. We’ve got to be careful how we go about the budget. Mental health was my platform. I want to make sure we have enough mental health professionals attending to all aspects of our community, because we need that, and also making sure our police are fire and our public work employees electric employees are taken care of.”
Voter turnout was low, with an average of 17% of registered voters casting a ballot.
These are not the official results because a total of about 212 absentee, questioned, and special needs ballots still need to be counted over the coming week and those final tallies have to be certified by the City Council at an upcoming meeting.
