Voters Back Milo Creek Flood Project Vote Establishes Conservation District; State, Federal Funds To Pay For Construction

Kellogg and Wardner area voters set the stage Tuesday for construction of a $9 million flood-control project.

By a vote of 99 to 47, they passed the Milo Creek Maintenance Referendum. That established a conservation district, so property owners eventually can be assessed to pay for the operation of a new system to contain Milo Creek.

The creek, which flows through culverts under part of Kellogg, caused serious damage during flooding last spring. Money for the construction project will come from federal and state agencies.

All other elections in the Silver Valley involved city council and mayoral posts. Communities with contested races were:

Kellogg: Roger Mangum will be Kellogg’s next mayor, defeating Michael Stevenson by a vote of 367 to 40. Write-in votes went to Steve Palmer, with 46 votes; incumbent mayor Mac Pooler, 17; Kent Roberts, 1; and Norma Douglas, 1.

Mangum, a Kellogg planning commissioner, owns Medical Center Pharmacy. Pooler didn’t seek reelection.

Results in the City Council races were not available at deadline. Larry Burcham was running against Dale Gurdipee. Larry Halley and Max Faller also sought the same post. Ken Schueman ran unopposed.

Mullan: Michael Dunnigan is Mullan’s new mayor. The self-employed remodeler defeated Larry Hoven by a vote of 145 to 98.

Blair Gosline, Daniel White and Gary Garitone won seats on the City Council.

Gosline defeated incumbent Don Kotschevar, 134 votes to 108, for the two-year post.

Vote tallies in the race for the four-year seats: White, 174, Garitone, 145, David Randel, 71 and Mike Ban, 66.

Pinehurst: Four people competed for the two open council seats in Pinehurst. Winners were Nancie Burkhart and Jimmy Winebrenner. The final vote tallies were: Winebrenner, 157; Nancie Burkhart, 134; Stan Edwards, 106; Cindy Christmann-Wilbur, 84.

Smelterville: Incumbents Thomas Benson and Charles Padula won the three-way race for Smelterville’s two council seats.

Benson got 72 votes; Padula, 64 votes; and challenger Randy Aamodt, 41 votes.

Wallace: Five people competed for two spots on the Wallace City Council. Winners of the four-year terms were Virginia Mattern and Dorwin Hinman.

Incumbent Mattern was opposed by Jon Ruggles and Brenda Auld. Votes were: 183, 133 and 11, respectively.

Hinman was opposed by incumbent Linda Brunette. He got 179 votes to her 144 votes.

Former council member Ron Garitone will be the city’s next mayor. He was unopposed in his bid to replace Archie Hulsizer, who is stepping down.

, DataTimes