OKANOGAN – The face of the Oroville School Board appears to have changed dramatically following last Tuesday’s election-day vote counts.

According to the count, which is not official until certified on Nov. 29, Christina Rise has defeated longtime school director and current board chairwoman Tedi Fletcher for Position 1. Rise had 482, or 63.76 percent of the votes cast in her favor while Fletcher had 274, or 36.24 percent for a four-year term. Phil Barker had a narrow lead over incumbent Patti Garrett. Barker had 405 (51.92 percent) of the votes to Garrett’s 375 (48.08 percent) for Position 4, a two-year unexpired term. However, incumbent Amy Wise looks like she has retained her seat on the board for an additional four-year term in Position 3. She earned 434 or 58.1 percent, of the votes cast over challenger Scott Rich who had 313 votes or 41.9 percent. After Tuesday’s vote count the result of the race for Position 5 was too close to call. Timothy R. Whiteaker was enjoying a one-vote lead over Rocky DeVon. David Nutt, who ran unopposed for Position 2, will round out the board.

On the Tonasket City Council it looks like incumbent Jill M. Vugteveen has defeated challenger Ron Martell by a wide margin of 83 votes (62.41 percent) to 50 (37.59 percent). Running unopposed and returning to the council were incumbents Scott Olson for Position 2, Julianna Griffin for Position 4 and Selena Hines for Position 5.

None of the three open positions on the Tonasket School Board faced challengers. Catherine Stangland keeps her seat on the board in Position 2, Ty Olson in Position 3 and Jerry Asmussen in Position 5.

Incumbents also went unchallenged for the three open seats on the Oroville City Council. Edward Naillon returns to Position 3, Walt Hart III to Position 4 and Neysa Roley to Position 5.

Riverside had several positions open in city government. Margie Mefford retains her position as mayor. It looks like Dana Armstrong has defeated Bill Bond by a wide margin for Council Position 2 an unexpired two-year term. Arlie Clinkenbeard, the former Okanogan County Commissioner, ran unopposed for Position 4 and Chad Booker ran unopposed for Council Position 5. Both are four-year terms.

Clarice Nelson will return to the North Valley Hospital District board at Commissioner Position 2 and Helen Casey at Commissioner Position 4.

Several local fire districts had single candidates that were returned to office as fire commissioners. Robert Ellis remains fire commissioner for Okanogan County Fire District 1, Position 1; Chuck Everts for County Fire District 7, Position 3; Bill Meyers, County Fire District 11, Position 2; Bob Mann, County Fire District 12, Position 1 and Roger C. Prater, County Fire District 16, Position 3.

Delores Patterson of Oroville also was returned to her seat on the board of Okanogan County Cemetery District 4 (Riverview Cemetery).

County voters reflected the desires of the rest of the state and voted approval of Initiative 1183 privatizing the sale of hard alcohol. The county’s voters also voted in favor of Initiative Measure 1125 concerning state expenditures on transportation and in favor of Initiative Measure 1163 concerning long-term care workers and services for elderly and disabled persons.

There were 6660 votes counted in the general election in Okanogan County. There are an estimated 2400 ballots left to count. Although the majority of the ballots were counted on Tuesday, ballots with the Nov. 8 postmark may still filter in. The next vote count has been scheduled for Monday, Nov. 14, according to Mila Jury, Chief Deputy Elections Administrator with the Okanogan County Auditor’s Office.