Kelly holds seat, Moe and Robinson take commission seats; chickens and economic levy fail; charter updates approved

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.
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