Eagle River Water & Sanitation District Regular Election
-Unofficial Results
Director District 1
Kaye Ferry 807 votes
Rick Sackbauer 1556 votes four-year term
Director District 2
Sounia Nejad Chaney 480 votes
Paul Anderson Testwuide 1760 votes two-year term
Director District 5
Matthew D. Scherr 835 votes
Tom Allender 1179 votes four-year term
Director District 7
Ellen Smith Eaton 754 votes
Bill Simmons* 799 votes four-year term
Tommy King 444 votes
* pending return of additional UOCAVA (Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act) ballots. There are 59 outstanding UOCAVA ballots; the deadline for return is 5 p.m. on May 14.
Ballot Issue A
Yes 1948 votes 69.5 percent
No 854 votes 30.5 percent
Ballot Issue B
Yes 1741 votes 63 percent
No 1019 votes 37 percent
Voter Turnout
2852 total votes cast - 19 percent voter turnout based on 15,094 ballots that were delivered to eligible electors. By law, the election was conducted as a mail ballot election. Ballots were received at the district polling place by US mail or hand delivery.
Board of Directors Election
Eagle River Water & Sanitation District is divided into seven Director Districts. Five Director Districts had open seats in this regular election, four of which had more than one candidate and one of which (Director District 3) had no candidates. Four-year terms were open in Director Districts 1, 5, and 7, while a two-year term was open in Director District 2 due to a vacancy on the board. The candidate receiving the highest number of votes in each Director District - Sackbauer, Testwuide, Allender, and Simmons - has been elected to the respective two- or four-year term (see above).
The election fills the terms of four of the district's seven director positions. Those seats were held by incumbent candidate Rick Sackbauer, plus Ludwig Kurz, Darell Wegert, and Rick Pylman. Kurz, Wegert, and Pylman are term-limited and could not run again.
Terms of the remaining board members, Debbie Buckley and Stephen Friedman, run to May 2016. Swearing-in ceremonies for the newly elected directors will take place at 11 a.m. on May 22 during the next regular meeting of the Board of Directors. At that time, board members will elect a President/Chair, Treasurer, and Secretary.
Ballot Issue A: General Obligation debt
Voters decided how to fund required improvements to district wastewater facilities in this question. A "yes" vote authorized an increase in district debt, allowing the district to issue up to $25 million in General Obligation bonds that will be paid back by property tax within the district boundaries. The new mill levy will be implemented in 2017.
A "no" vote would have not authorized general obligation debt. Because improved wastewater treatment is required by the state of Colorado, a "no" vote would have meant that the improvements would have been funded by higher wastewater service rates.
Ballot Issue B: Removal of the revenue limitations of TABOR (Taxpayer Bill of Rights) Voters exempted the district from certain parts of TABOR in this question, in part to allow the opportunity for the district to receive grant funds that would offset the cost of the required improvements. The district operates as a self-funded government - an "Enterprise" - under TABOR; passage of Issue B allows the district to retain and spend all revenues collected.