Special districts see new board members

Results are in

The Crested Butte Fire Protection District, Gunnison County Metropolitan Recreation District and the Mt. Crested Butte Water and Sanitation District held elections for board seats on Tuesday, May 6.

In the Fire District election, incumbents Hank Smith and Paul Hird were re-elected to their seats with 167 and 156 votes respectively. Peter O’Rourke was also elected with 125 votes. Jeff Isaac and Sean Riley were not elected with 75 and 53 votes. The district saw 201 voters turn out, compared to 135 voters two years ago. The new board members will be seated on Tuesday, May 13.
Up at the Mt. Crested Butte Water and Sanitation District, incumbents Chuck McGinnis and Bill Cavanaugh held on to their seats with 57 and 67 votes respectively.  Meridian Lake Park resident Melanie Rees was also elected with 59 votes.  Incumbent David Eleeson missed election with 49 votes.  This was the first Water District election since 2000.  Including absentee ballots and a day at the polls a total of 94 people voted in the election.  The Water District’s inaugural meeting for the elected board members will also be on Tuesday, May 13.  
For the Metropolitan Recreation District, the unofficial election results show incumbent David McGuire will retain his director’s seat with a 117 votes, while Mark Hildebrand and Kevin Hicks were elected to first terms as directors with 100 and 93 votes respectively. The three will serve four-year terms. Rogene McKiernan was not reelected to a four-year term, but had 82 votes cast. The directors serving two-year terms will be Paul Wayne Foreman, who had 131 votes, and Robert Beda, who had 130 votes cast. Both ran unopposed.
The election results for the Met Rec District will become official after Friday, May 9. The Crested Butte polling place had 112 voters cast ballots and 45 voted in Gunnison. Twenty-nine people voted via mail in ballots.