Newly elected Soldotna Mayor Pete Sprague took his oath of office at a special Soldotna City Council meeting, held Monday.
Both Sprague and Charlene Tautfest were running in the city’s special election to fill the mayor’s seat, which was left vacant after the Sept. 10 death of Mayor John Nels Anderson.
Sprague garnered 199 votes, and 78 were cast for Tautfest, with two write-in votes. With just 279 votes cast and 3,757 registered voters in the city, there was a 7.43% voter turnout, which is the lowest turnout the city has seen in decades. Voter turnout numbers going back to 1991 are compiled on the city’s website. The second lowest turnout was 7.82% during the 2012 municipal election.
This will be Sprague’s second term as mayor. He served the city before in 2015 through 2017. Sprague also served on the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly from 1998 to 2010, on the Soldotna City Council from 1997 to 1999 and again from 2011 to 2015.
Sprague will serve the city until the next regular election in October 2020, which is when Anderson’s term as mayor would have ended.
In the October 2020 election there will be another mayoral race.
