Sanders County election results

Danielle Switalski

Sanders County election results are official and Thompson Falls has a new face in the mayor seat as Carla Parks beat out Louis LaRock after his ten year stint as mayor.  Plains Mayor Michael Brinson was reelected after defeating Ron Robinson in a close election and Hot Springs mayor Randy Woods won the election against candidate LoriAnne Hancock.

The voter turnout for the new mail-in ballots was successful in all three towns.  Clerk and recorder Lisa Wadsworth said they were hoping for even higher numbers as far as counted ballots, but there was still a high ballot return. 

“We were hoping for a little higher, but that’s still really good, especially in a city election because normally you just don’t get that good of a turnout,” said Wadsworth.

In Thompson Falls, there was a 68 percent voter turnout, in Plains 54 percent of the issued ballots were returned and in Hot Springs 62 percent came back to be counted.  With more than half of the ballots being returned from each town, the mail-in ballots were a success as voter turnout was significantly higher than in past years. 

New Thompson Falls mayor Carla Parks, who won with 323 votes compared to LaRock’s 151, is eager to take up her new post in January. 

“I was really happy and I’m anxious to get started,” said Parks.

Parks said she plans to spend the next two months down at the city office and start learning about her new position with the possible guidance of LaRock.  She also has plans to immediately begin research for grants and possible funding for the town, but for the most part she will spend her time prior to taking office in learning and finding out what it will take to be a good mayor of Thompson Falls. 

“I’m really grateful to everyone in trusting me in this position and I’m going to do the best I can to earn that trust,” said Parks.

Randy Woods has been mayor of Hot Springs for over a year.  Woods beat Hancock 124 to 40 votes in the election. 

Having been elected to continue on as mayor, Woods said he has plans to carry on with the current projects to try and make things better for the town, while remaining as open as possible to the public.  He said the town will persist in trying to fix the things they can.  For example, right now the town is adding on to the sewer’s force main on Jake’s Rd.  The town is also working on coming to a resolution on the Class Two landfill that was accidentally reopened in the beginning of Oct.  The town has hired an engineering firm to determine he magnitude of the landfill, and the proper procedure to have it closed again and meet the requirements set by the Department of Environmental Quality on landfills. 

Woods said he is also working on securing an energy grant in order to provide an alternate source of energy to the fire hall and city shop.  The town is hoping to provide a green source of energy by using solar windows for the backup energy source.

Michael Brinson was reelected in the closest mayoral election of all three towns, regaining the mayor seat with 172 votes compared to Robinson’s 146.

“I am just very happy the people who voted for me gave me another four years in office,” said Brinson.

Brinson said he has plans to continue on in the direction the town has been going, specifically in finding grant money to improve the water and sewer system and hopefully for the city streets.  However, Brinson said, it is difficult to find money for street repair particularly in small towns, but he will continue on with the search for grant money. 

Also elected in Thompson Falls were Council members Linda McKahan for Ward one, Mark Sheets for Ward two and Randy Roberts for Ward three, all for four-year terms.  Council members for Plains are Randy West for Ward one, on a two-year term, Debbie Churchill for Ward two and Chris Allen for Ward three.  Both Churchill and Allen were elected for four-year terms.  Mendy Estill was elected councilperson of Ward one in Hot Springs for a four-year term and Leslee Smith was elected for a four-year term for Ward two.