Ratliff, McKinney win Havre council seats

Two new members were elected to the Havre City Council and an incumbent in Chinook was elected to a second term in Tuesday's city elections.

Lindsey Ratliff, a Havre High School art and social studies teacher, defeated ophthalmologist Marc Whitacre 346 to 313 votes in the race for the Ward 3 seat.

Incumbent Jay Pyette did not run for re-election.

"I'm just excited to get to know some of the other council members and get to know the city officials and educate myself on the intricacies of city government," Ratliff

said this morning.

Whitacre said this morning that the voters have spoken. He added that he would entertain the idea of another run for office in the future.

Sarah McKinney won the three-way race for a Ward 4 seat. McKinney, a sales representative, received 197 votes. Her opponents Will Lorett and Lorraine Pester finished with 73 and 60 votes respectively.

Incumbent Matthew Boucher did not run for re-election.

"I'm just very excited and just anxious to get started," McKinney said this morning.

"I lost of course, but I think Sarah will do a great job, so I am not too sad about it," Lorett said this morning.

He added that he overestimated how much free time he had, and did not get out to campaign nearly as much as he wanted.

Pester could not be reached for comment before print deadline this morning.

In the contested race for Chinook City Council, incumbent Mitch Haider fended off a challenge from James Hodgson 83 to 72 in Ward 2.

Neither Haider nor Hodgson could be reached before print deadline this morning.

In uncontested races that were on the ballots, Havre City Council member Terry Lilletvedt received 693 votes to retain her Ward 1 seat. Karen Swenson, who was appointed last year to complete the term of Ward 2 council member Janet Trethewey, received 371 votes to retain her seat in Ward 2. Denise Brewer, who was appointed to fill the seat in Ward 2 vacated when Brian Barrows resigned, received 341 votes to retain her seat.

Havre Mayor Tim Solomon received 1,786 votes in his uncontested race for re-election.

City Judge Virginia Seigel, also unopposed, won re-election with 1,879 votes.

In Chinook, Robert Lee Smith, received 132 votes to retain his seat in Ward 1. Meredy Phares received 147 votes to retain her Ward 1 seat to which she was appointed..

Chinook Mayor Keith Hanson was re-elected with 124 votes.

In other local communities, no races were contested and the candidates were elected by acclamation with no ballots mailed out. Those include Harlem City Council members Ralph Schneider in Ward 1 and Eva English in Ward 2; Hingham Mayor Ray Lipp and council members Roger Haas and Dillon Lipp; Big Sandy Mayor Stephen Stiles and City Council incumbents Colby Baumgarn and Darin Ray; and Chester town council members Shane Kenfield in Ward 1, Wendy Dauwalder in Ward 2 and Tonia Wickman in Ward 3.

Total turnout in Havre's mail-in election was 46 percent, with Ward 1 seeing a 52 percent turnout, Ward 2 44 percent, Ward 3 47 percent and Ward 4 36 percent.