PORT TOWNSEND — Monica MickHager apparently won the council seat held by Mayor Deborah Stinson after the initial count of general election ballots Tuesday night.
Stinson, 64, was criticized by MickHager, 63, for city debt.
Another incumbent, Amy Howard, 37, was holding strong against a challenge from Bernie Arthur, 80.
Pam Petranek was leading Chuck Fauls for a seat on the Port of Port Townsend commission and voters were approving a port measure to raise property taxes for improvements within an industrial development district.
The Jefferson County Auditor’s Office counted 9,553 ballots Tuesday night, which is 36.93 percent of the 25,865 provided registered voters. The next ballot count will be by 4 p.m. Friday.
Petranek, 59, and Fauls, 66, are vying for the port commission seat now held by Steve Tucker, who did not seek reelection.
The Port of Port Townsend asked voters throughout the county to approve a $15 million levy to improve facilities within its specified industrial development district.
Commissioners had approved the levy earlier this year. A citizens group calling itself the Committee for Port Accountability successfully circulated a petition to put the measure on the ballot even though it was not required to receive voter approval.
Voters could authorize the new property tax, which would be capped at 45 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value but likely would be much less than that, according to port officials who said that commissioners are considering a formula at a rate closer to 13 cents per $1,000.
The measure requires a simple majority for passage.
Voters appeared to be approving two other tax measures — a Brinnon Fire Department $1.2 million bond to replace outdated vehicles and a renewal of a six-year levy of 15 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value to support the Laurel B. Johnson Community Center in Coyle.
Both measures require a 60 percent supermajority for passage.
The Brinnon Fire Department bond would be paid off over 10 years and would cost a homeowner with an assessed value of $200,000 approximately 45 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation.
If the Coyle community center measure fails, the parks district will have no sources of revenue to keep the community center open, according to Board Treasurer Richard Hull.
In school board contests:
— Harold J. ‘Jim’ Sherwood, 71 —a former Port Townsend School Board member — was behind in a race with Doug Ross, 58, for the board’s District 3 seat, now held by Keith White, who did not run for reelection.
— Chimacum’s School District voters are electing the majority of those on the five-member board.rienstra
Mickey Nagy, 39, was leading against Mike Aman, 50, in the race for the Chimacum School Board’s District 2 seat, which was held by LuAnn Rogers who moved out of the district.
Kristina Mayer, 66, was ahead in the contest with Steve Martin, 47, for the board’s District 3 seat, now held by Mike Gould, who is not running for reelection.
Tami Robocke, 49, was leading by a slim margin appointee Michael Raymond, 64, for the District 4 seat.
— In Quilcene, Jessica Gossette, 46, was ahead of Jenelle Cleland, 45, for the school’s board Position 4 seat now held by Paul Mahan. Mahan is running unopposed for Position 5.
— In Brinnon, incumbent Ron Stephens, 76, was leading Cortney Beck, 29, for the school board’s Position 2 seat, while incumbent Joe Baisch, 71, was ahead of Jolene A. Elkins, 50, for Position 3.
Voters were handily approving a measure to have the recently-expanded East Jefferson Fire Rescue board include representation for specified districts. The commissioner districts would be the third piece in a year-long puzzle; voters approved annexation into the fire district in February and OK’d expanding the board from three to five members in August.
In measures involving both Jefferson and Clallam county voters:
— Sequim School Board incumbent Jim Stoffer, 59, was ahead of challenger Beth Smithson, 38, in the contest for the District 3 seat.
— William ‘Bill’ Miano III, 48, was leading challenger James Barnfather, 68, for the District 3 seat on the Clallam County Fire District 3 commission.
— Clallam County Fire District 3, which serves residents in both Clallam and Jefferson counties, was easily winning a bid for a renewal of the emergency medical services levy through 2029.
The EMS levy voters renewed for 10 years in 2009 is due to expire in 2020.
It needs a simple majority vote for approval.
Jefferson County Opening Board Dale Meyer, left, Betty Grewell and Jay Page work to remove ballots from their envelopes Tuesday afternoon at the Jefferson County Courthouse. The envelopes are then shuffled and set aside in order to maintain voter anonymity. (Zach Jablonski/Peninsula Daily News)