The five Soldotna incumbents running uncontested will fill their seats for the next term.
The four candidates running for city council, Linda Murphy, Pete Sprague, Paul Whitney and Meggean Bos were re-elected all with about 97 percent of the votes. Mayor Nels Anderson captured 94 percent of the votes.
Proposition 1 failed as 52 percent of the votes came in as against it. The proposition would exempt elected and appointed candidates from the Alaska State Public Official Financial Disclosure laws and would have moved city officials to a localized filing system.
Council member Linda Murphy said she was not surprised by the results for the council seats. She said she was very disappointed that the proposition failed.
Murphy said she speculates that the city didn’t do enough to inform the voters about what the new system would look like. She said the current filing system keeps people from running for public positions.
“A localized system is necessary in a town this size,” Murphy said.
Pete Sprague said he was pleased with how close the vote was in favor of the proposition. He said since the races were all uncontested, there were not many chances for the council members to speak publicly during the campaign season about the proposition.
Sprague said he is ready to move forward and address what is next on the agenda for the council.
“We will have a lot on our plate,” Sprague said. “Moving to home rule is going to take a lot of involvement from the city.”
Reach Kelly Sullivan at kelly.sullivan@peninsulaclarion.com.
