Bob Kelly will keep his seat as mayor.

As of 9:45 p.m. Tuesday night, Kelly has 9,881 votes and his challenger, Spencer Galloway had 2,591.

 

Kelly thanked Fred Burow and Bob Jones for their service as commissioners. Jones decided not to pursue another 4-year term. Burow ran, but announced he was dropping out after the primary. His name remained on the ballot since he didn’t withdraw before the deadline under state law, which requires 85 days prior to an election to be removed from the ballot.

Kelly said he will particularly miss the wise counsel from Jones, who previously served as chief of the Great Falls Police Department.

Kelly also thanked Galloway for getting involved in local government and said he hopes Galloway and the other younger candidates will stay involved in local government.

His main priority will getting the new commissioners up to speed quickly so they can work together to develop their priorities as a group. The commission typically meets in late winter/early spring to set their priorities for the year and hear from all city department heads to hear their priorities, needs and challenges. Those priorities then guide city staff in developing the budget.

Filling the seats vacated by Burow and Jones will be Owen Robinson, who got 7,618 votes and Mary Sheehy Moe, who received 7,157 votes. Rick Tryon received 6,432 votes.

 

Moe said that the candidates had varying ideas on the future of the city and that she hopes the new commission can get to work quickly.

“I think this is a really important time for Great Falls,” Moe said.

One of her priorities will be attracting a younger workforce, she said.

In the time until she’s sworn in in January, Moe said she’ll continue to attend city meetings and learn the processes and issues currently being discussed.

She said she’s grateful to those who supported her and helped during the campaign.

“It’s always humbling,” Moe said.

Robinson said he also felt humbled.

He said he plans to be prepared for meetings so he can ask detailed questions and thoroughly discuss items that come before the commission.

In the immediate future, Robinson said he wanted to focus on the proposed park district to determine what question should be put to voters on the ballot.

Urban chickens:

No: 6646

Yes: 6040

Economic Development levy:

No: 11749

Yes: 5977

City Charter updates are all approved so far.

Neighborhood Council 1

Everett Hall: 832

David Foscue: 661

Ronald Szabo: 647

Neighborhood Council 2

Ron Staley: 546

Sueann Strickland: 529

Brittany Rae Olson: 501

Style Patera: 476

Neighborhood Council 3

Sue Dickenson: 1863

Timothy Austin: 1536

Max Mauch: 1387

Kathleen Gessaman: 1358

Cyndi Baker: 1199

Neighborhood Council 4

Gregg Matsko: 1243

Sandra Guynn: 1119

Rudolf Tankink: 895

Juan Trey Torres: 879

Neighborhood Council 5

Terry Albrecht: 666

Marcia Anderson: 646

Pat Bolton: 634

Eric Ray: 611

Gloria Bedker: 597

Neighborhood Council 6

Cherry Loney: 764

Julie Parker: 715

Allison Tangen: 621

Joseph Moll: 597

Neighborhood Council 7

Sandra Rice: 487

Andrea Blewett: 484

Lisa Meyers: 432

Troy Lane: 403

Neighborhood Council 8

Karen Grove: 848

Barbara Going: 799

Steven Grout: 685

Michael Brainard: 640

Neighborhood Council 9

Karen Gray: 940

Shannon Wilson: 868

Bernard Dabishefsky: 816

Because some of the neighborhood councils didn’t have enough candidates, city staff will now go through write in names. They’ll call those people in order of vote getters to see if they’re willing to serve on a neighborhood council.

In Belt:

Mayor:

James Olson: 108

John Masonovich: 41

Donald Crowell: 2

Alderman, Ward 3

Russell Roberts: 40

Cascade

Alderman, Ward 1:

No candidates filed and no write in candidates filed.

Alderman, Ward 2:

Robert Reissing: 33

Wesley Seabolt: 22

Of the 39,260 ballots mailed county-wide, 18,195 ballots have been counted. Election officials estimate there’s about 500-1,000 ballots left to count.