The City of Surrey will be looking to appoint a mayor tonight when it meets to reorganize following the June 12 election.
Mayor Steve Fennewald did not seek another term but ran unopposed for an unexpired two-year term on the city council in Ward 1. No one filed for mayor, and Fennewald received the most write-in votes for the office. He chose to accept the Ward 1 council seat rather than the mayor's position.
The council will consider appointing one of its members as mayor when it meets to reorganize, according to the city auditor's office. That would create a ward vacancy to also be filled by appointment.
The council already has a Ward 2 vacancy to fill because the resident elected on write-ins declined to take the job. The position is for four years. Also in Ward 2, Karla Walsh was elected on write-ins to fill an unexpired, two-year term.
Voters elected Jason Strand over incumbent Blaine Klein, 67 to 23, to a four-year term in Ward 1. Rod Hjelden, who was appointed to the council from Ward 3 last March, ran for the seat held by Terry Johnson and was elected to the four-year term. Johnson ran unopposed and was elected to the two years remaining in term to which Hjelden had been appointed.
Surrey voters wrote in incumbents Jason Feller and Ken Johnson to continue on the park board. LuAnn Tryhus accepted the two-year seat on the board that she won on write-ins.
Other area communities also had positions to fill with write-in votes.
Dennis Redding, who served as mayor of Sawyer a number of years ago, was elected to the post again on write-ins.
Sawyer voters wrote in Rex Weltikol to fill an unexpired, two-year seat on the city council for which no one filed. Incumbents Brian Johnson, Chris O'Connor and Michael Hemphill retained seats on the council.
In Velva, two ballot candidates and two write-in candidates vied for three positions on the city commission. Voters elected incumbent Scott Blotter and Darren Johnson, whose names were on the ballot, and James K. Anderson.