Tensed Sticks With New Guard

Tensed voters on Tuesday underlined former Mayor Ed Dohrman’s exit from city politics by overwhelmingly supporting the council coalition that ousted him.

Mayor Mariane Hurley, appointed after Dohrman’s July ouster, retained her seat. The two successful candidates for City Council were incumbent Gary Seaton and store owner Diane Jensen.

“There’s a lot of pain, but it will go,” Hurley said Tuesday night. “There were a lot of things said that need to heal, and it’s going to take time. But this is great.”

Said Seaton: “I hope this shows that everyone wants to go forward. I’m hoping this finally settles it.”

In the race for mayor, the final count was:

Mariane Hurley, incumbent: 47

Shirley Lanning: 16

Dohrman received two write-in votes.

Total votes for the council race were:

Darrow Phillips, incumbent: 18

Gary Seaton, incumbent: 45

Shane Sanford: 17

Effie Reid: 15

Diane Jensen: 29

All the candidates said they wanted to heal the wounds from July’s rancorous battle. The sharply split council battled to a stand-still this summer over matters as minor as moving the town Dumpster. Tensed’s population is 90.

“We’ll be getting the things done that we should have done two years ago,” said Seaton. High on the list: changing the sign on city hall from “Ensed” to “Tensed.”

“Nobody could find the T,” said Seaton. “We’re getting a whole new sign.”

The challengers’ main issue was more public input into city decisions. Some criticized Mayor Hurley, saying she wasn’t receptive to different opinions. Hurley said she’s more than willing to listen, but won’t allow outbursts or cursing to disrupt the meetings.

, DataTimes