Primary whittles down City Council, Hospital Commissioners candidates

CHELAN - The votes are counted. The stage set. November will feature some hot races for Chelan City Council, and both the Lake Chelan Hospital Commissioner openings in the general election.
Chelan Council Races
Current Planning Commissioner Tim Hollingsworth secured the top spot in the primary for Chelan City Council Position 6, garnering 455 of a total 947 votes - not including write-ins - (48.05%). He will face incumbent Cameron ‘Skip’ Morehouse, who received 388 votes (40.97%) as of the Friday, Aug. 4 count.
“I am pleased with the support I received in the primary,” Hollingsworth said last Thursday. “Councilman Morehouse and I are both well-known and respected around Chelan and the close results reflected that. I think it’s great that (Andrew) Baker participated in the election and I expect he will make great contributions to our community in the future.”
With the race being tight, Hollingsworth knows he has to reach out to more voters to secure the council position over Skip.
“I understand that I need to earn people’s vote by hearing their concerns and giving them the opportunity to understand my mind,” Hollingsworth said. “The harvest season in our valley is a busy time, but I hope to reach out during the Fall months and meet as many groups and individuals as possible to discuss concerns, ideas and things we love about living here.”
Morehouse responded to the following questions.
What are your thoughts on the outcome?:
“Never had a primary before and was very curious and happy with the outcome. Tim did advertise and Mayor Cooney is both supporting him and failing to pass on Council actions with any reference to me, on the KOZI radio following council meetings.”
Was it closer than you anticipated?
“Not really, I have only garnered 59 percent in any fall election.”
What are your feelings heading into the general election in November?
“Very positive, Rotarian, John Anderson, who also led the charge for the Chelan Valley Hope organization, is backing me all the way. He knows both of us and spent a year under Tim’s Presidential term in the Rotary. He thinks I should continue. He may be the most community minded person I know and was a great asset to this City.”
How are you going to try and secure more votes from Andrew Baker to put you past Tim?
“If you look at my record over the last 11 plus years, the most recent accomplishment, funding Lake Chelan Research Institute at a realistic level, it is unmatched by any council person for adding value to our valley. Experience, Knowledge, and Accomplishment. I plan on talking to more than six people about the fall election and will get my record out,  which serves the community. If the Andrew Baker voters  and the Tim voters compare our community work the last 12 years they would no doubt be Morehouse voters. And I will try to smile a little more ... Be sure to come look at the Planning Tim has in mind. He would like to convert single family zoning to multifamily and Tourist Accommodation, blocking your sunrise and sunset vistas.”
Hospital Board Races
The Hospital Commissioner races drew, as of the Aug. 4 ballot count 4,561 voters, and will be hotly contested over the next few months, with incumbent Mary Signorelli getting 1,086 votes (47.24%)compared to challengers Jeremy Jaech, who accumulated 782 votes (34.01%) and Stan Morse receives 431 votes (18.75%)
Mary Signorelli
“I have lots of duties and responsibilities to address between now and November,” Signorelli said. “Having said that, as far as my campaign is concerned, I am delighted to have the opportunity to show the voters of our Hospital District 2 why they show re-elect me Commissioner. I am ready to put the time and energy it will take to accomplish this.”
Jeremy Jaech
 “I’m pleased to make it to the general election.  This is my first attempt to run for public office so I feel good about the primary results.  I had no ideal how the voters would vote and am happy to have attracted about a third of the voters given that I have low name familiarity and am a relative new-comer to the valley, Jaech said. I’m hopeful that my message of bringing my expertise with building new facilities and understanding the future of health care will continue to resonate with the voters.  I plan to continue to hold small group meetings  with interested voters to explain why I can best represent them on the commission, and hope that this approach will not only attract voters who voted for Stan in the primary but also voters who voted for Mary.  I believe that the more people get to know me and what I could bring to the commission, the better my chances are of gathering votes that went to the other candidates in the primary election.
The other Hospital Commissioner race was tighter with incumbent Phyllis Gleasman leading with 1,024 votes (45.27%), Jerry Isenhart, received 951 votes (42.04%) and Kathy Jo Porter received 287 votes (12.69%)
Jerry Isenhart
“Now that I am a candidate in the General Election, I will begin to formulate more specific thoughts that i would like to see considered. One of those will be the expansion of the Hospital Commission from a five to seven member body,” Isenhart said. “As our valley grows in all ways, it would be extremely beneficial if we could have a more diverse Commission.”
“I’ve spoken to Kathy Jo and learned that she and I share many of the same ideas,” Isenhart said. “We both feel that new members to the Commissioner would serve to bring fresh perspectives, and that would be a good thing.”
Phyllis Gleasman
Gleasman did not respond with a comment.
For each race, whoever can secure the votes that went to the others candidates (Andrew Baker, Council, Stan Morse, Hospital Commissioner 1 and Kathy Jo Porter, Hospital Commissioner 5) will likely win the election in November.
It would be behoove to not point out the discrepancy in voter turnout since 4,273 residents voted for the Hospital Bond in April compared to a meager 1,851, and 1,821 in the two LCCH Commissioner races. The votes cast in the previous two Commissioner races in 2015 (Wall - Murphy) and (Warren-Farrell) drew 2,508 and 2,389 votes each.
Entiat City Council race
In the Entiat City Council race, incumbent Robert Anderson secured a strong hold on his seat, tallying 156 votes (73.24%) compared to 40 (18.78%) for Norman Stenberg and 17 (7.98%) for Richard Crump.
Stenberg will look to rally more of the residents in Entiat to overcome Anderson.
Final ballot count and certification of the election will be on Tuesday, Aug. 15