Council, school board races taking shape in first day of candidate filing

Cheryl Schweizer, Columbia Basin Herald, Moses Lake, Wash.
·3 min read

May 17—EPHRATA — Incumbents on the Moses Lake City Council and Moses Lake School Board will be facing at least one challenger for their seats. There will also be a race for one seat on the Samaritan Healthcare board. Those races emerged after the first day of filing for Grant County offices in the 2023 general election.

The filing period ends Friday. Races that attract more than two candidates will be on the ballot in the Aug. 1 primary, but as of Monday no races had three candidates.

Victor Lombardi filed for the Moses Lake council seat currently held by David Eck, who also filed Monday. Moses Lake council incumbent David Skaug also filed for reelection.

Incumbent Shannon Hintz filed for reelection to her seat on the Moses Lake School Board, and has one challenger, Amy Breitenstein, as of Monday night. Kirryn Jensen filed for a different school board seat Monday. School board incumbent Susan Freeman filed for reelection.

The at-large seat on the Samaritan Healthcare Commission attracted two candidates, Joe Ketterer and Joe Akers, on the first day of filing. Incumbent Kathryn Christian also filed for reelection, but for a different seat.

Ephrata City Council incumbent Valli Millard filed for reelection, and three Ephrata council seats attracted new candidates. Beau Lamons, Ashley Grout and Mike Warren each filed for a different Ephrata council seat.

Allen Depuy filed for the job of Soap Lake mayor. Soap Lake City Council member JoAnn Rushton filed for reelection.

One person, Dario Pruneda, filed for election to the Warden City Council. Two incumbent Wahluke School Board members, Maybeline Pantaleon and Craig Sabin filed for new terms.

Two incumbents, Kelli Camp and Thalia Lemus-DeLeon, filed for reelection to the Othello School Board, with Chris Baginski filing for a different seat. Incumbent Josh Sainsbury filed for reelection to the Ephrata School Board; Jordan Hansen filed for the board's other open seat.

Blake Martin filed for an Electric City City Council seat. Incumbents April Harward and Steve Bond filed for new terms on the Coulee City Town Council. Incumbent Patty Neff-Carroll filed for reelection to the George City Council, and incumbent Paul Friend filed for reelection to the town council in Krupp (also known as Marlin).

Rachel Barton filed for election to a seat on the Almira School Board, and incumbents Joshua Wood and Conor Jorgensen filed for reelection to the Coulee-Hartline School Board. Incumbent Nasario Soliz Jr. filed for another term on the Royal School Board. Incumbent Rick Martin filed for reelection to the Warden School Board, and Brent Finkbiner, the incumbent, filed for another term on the Wilson Creek School Board. Ed Diefe and Chris Crossley filed for the Odessa School Board.

Commissioners on a number of port commissions filed for reelection. Patric Connolly filed for reelection on the Port of Quincy commission; so did Alan Schrom at the Port of Royal Slope. Stroud Kunkle filed for a new term at the Port of Moses Lake. Nick Moore filed for reelection to the Port of Ephrata commission; Dale Pomeroy filed for a new term at the Port of Warden.

Kim Randolph-Meany filed for the McKay Healthcare and Rehabilitation seat. Incumbent Michele Talley filed for another term on the Quincy Valley Medical Center commission; incumbent Barb Davis filed for a new term on the Mattawa Community Medical Clinic board and Jerry Kennedy for a new term on the Coulee Medical Center commission.

Chris Campbell filed for a seat on the Fire District 4 commission (Warden), and Andrew Koeppen filed for Fire District 5 (Moses Lake). Daniel Burts filed for a seat on the Fire District 7 commission (Soap Lake).

Incumbents Tim Freeman and Bonnie Valentine filed to retain their seats in Fire District 10 (Royal Slope). Incumbent Keven Child filed for a new term in Fire District 3 (Quincy), and incumbents Debra Crain and Scott Nesbit filed for reelection in Fire District 8 (Mattawa). So did incumbent Mel Lotz in Fire District 13 (Ephrata).

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached at cschweizer@columbiabasinherald.com.