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Canvass settles local election results
By Chris Strunk
Last Updated: November 16, 2017

Local election results were confirmed and one race was settled in vote-canvassing completed Nov. 13.

The Sedgwick County Election Office released final tallies from the Nov. 7 election of city councils, mayors and school boards.

In Valley Center, Matt Stamm won the write-in duel with Kelsey Parker for Ward 3 of the city council. Stamm received 32 of the 68 write-in votes, while Parker received 19.

Stamm, a former Valley Center school board member and chairman of the city's planning commission, will take office in January. He will replace Jake Jackson, who did not seek re-election.

“I am just happy people got out and voted," Stamm said. “It would have been nice to have a little more people, not just in this race but across the board. But I'm happy and I'm ready to start. I'm ready to get to work."

Stamm said he will step down from the planning commission later this year.

Parker, who serves on the city's Parks and Open Spaces Board, said she plans to run for office again in 2019 as well as find “more ways to serve Valley Center."

“While I am sad the election didn't go my way, I am comforted knowing that Matt and I shared similar goals for our city and he will do great work on the council," Parker said.

The vote canvass settled the following area races:

•David Austin won re-election as mayor of Bel Aire, beating Patty Beamer 772 to 229.

•John Speer won election as mayor of Kechi with 123 votes. He did not have a challenger.

•Raymond Mann won re-election as mayor of Park City with 293 votes. He did not have a challenger, although there were 55 write-in votes. Former mayor Emil Bergquist received 12 write-in votes, while current council member George Capps received 14.

•John Lehnherr retained his seat in Ward 1 of the Park City council with 39 votes. Melvin Kerr also retained his seat in Ward 4 with 47 votes. They had no challengers.

•In the contested Ward 3 race, Benjamin Sauceda's win over Steve Brown was confirmed, 80 to 65. Sauceda will replace Gary Aldrich, who was defeated in the primary.

•Also on the Park City council, George Glover's win over Brandi Baily in Ward 2 was confirmed by a slim margin, 80 to 74.

•Newcomers Justin Smith (765), Jeff Elshoff (758), Jim Benage (717) and Jeff Hawes (621) won at-large seats on the Bel Aire City Council, defeating three incumbents.

•Margaret McCormick (106) and Betty Washington (118) will retain their seats on the Kechi City Council. They faced no opposition.

•In Valley Center, Ray Strunk won election in Ward 1 with 57 votes, while Brendan McGettigan will retain his Ward 2 seat with 76 votes. Each race drew six write-in votes, but none received more than one vote.

•In Ward 4 of the Valley Center City Council, Paul Davis' win over Forrest Patterson was confirmed, 61 to 38. Davis will replace Al Hobson, who did not seek re-election.

•The results of the Valley Center school board race were confirmed, with incumbents Bart Balthazor (441) and Brad Barbour (457) winning re-election and newcomer Jason Reffner receiving 432 votes to take the third seat, beating incumbent Richard Harris, who had 276 votes. There were 32 write-in votes in the race, including two votes each for former board member Jeanne Daniels, John Adams, Kelsey Parker, Rachel Ranzau and Matt Stamm. Also receiving a write-in vote each were Jeff Isaacs, Pete Hester, Mickey Mouse and Fresh Blood.





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