GRANT COUNTY — Mayoral races in every city in Grant County are already decided, leaving city council races as the main course this election cycle.

The largest and most contentious council election will be in John Day, where six candidates are vying to fill three council positions. For the most part, the candidates fall into two distinct camps.

During the tenure of Nick Green as John Day’s city manager, two factions began to take shape: those who agreed with Green’s vision for John Day’s future and those who didn’t.

The latest installment of that ongoing debate took place in mid-September, when voters rejected an effort to recall three city councilors who have pushed back against the former city manager’s policies. Earlier this year, John Day voters narrowly recalled the city’s mayor, who had been a vocal critic of Green-era programs.

The John Day City Council race will see incumbents Dave Holland, Chris Labhart and Ed Newby competing with former Councilor Shannon Adair and two other candidates — Heather Swank and Vernon Pifer — who are seeking their first terms on the council.

Swank, Pifer and Newby have made no secret of their opposition to Green’s ideas, while Holland and Adair have been strong supporters of his agenda. Labhart has been more of a moderate.

Mt. Vernon will see four candidates vying for two council seats. Incumbent Judi Bennett will try to remain on the council while newcomers Andrew Johnson, Flora Cheadle and Ken Douglas will all attempt to make their own way onto the council.

Long Creek will see a pair of one-on-one races as incumbent David Hines is opposed by Leslie Barnett while fellow incumbent Warren Dunn fields a challenge from Dan Kreamier.

Three candidates — Charles White, Andrea Officer and Linda Pace — will compete for two city council seats in Seneca. None of the three are incumbents.

Residents of Prairie City will head to the polls to select three city councilors from a group of four candidates consisting of Amanda Whale-Murphy, Georgia Patterson, Scott Clark and Danner Davis.

Canyon City, Monument, Dayville, Mt. Vernon and Long Creek all have single candidates running uncontested for mayor, with John Day and Seneca not holding mayoral elections this year.

In Monument, nobody filed for any of the three council seats up for election this cycle.

The tiny town of Granite saw no candidates file for either of the city’s two open city council seats or for the office of mayor.

In noncontested city council races, Dayville had one candidate, Skip Inscore, file for one of two city council seats, while no candidate filed for the other council seat up for election. Canyon City had two candidates file for the two city council seats up for election this year, leaving Jenny Workman and former Grant County Judge Scott Myers running unopposed to become the city’s two newest council members.

Races in John Day, Mt. Vernon, Prairie City and Seneca will come down to who gets the most votes. John Day as an example has six candidates competing for three seats with the three highest vote getters taking their place on the city council.

Long Creek is the exception with a pair of straight one-on-one races to fill the two seats up for election. 

Three seats on the Grant Soil & Water Conservation District board will be filled in uncontested races. Rick Henslee (Zone 2), Pat Voigt (Zone 3) and Phil St. Clair (At Large 1) are all running without opposition. 

The Monument Soil & Water Conservation District faces a similar situation. John A. Volle (Zone 1), Lisa S. Atkin (Zone 2) and Brain Campbell (Zone 3) are all running unopposed, while no one filed to fill two open at-large seats.  

Ballots will start to go out to voters on Wednesday, Oct. 16, with the general election being held on Nov. 5.

To see detailed candidate profiles for all the contested local elections in Grant County, go to www.bluemountaineagle.com.

After this story was published, the Eagle was informed that more than one candidate is running for mayor in Prairie City. The current mayor, Ed Clark, is the only person who formally filed papers to run for the position before the filing deadline, so his name is the only one that appears on the ballot in the Prairie City mayor’s race. However, Colin Kolb is running a write-in campaign. In the interest of fairness, the Eagle invited both men to respond to a questionnaire with information about their background, why they’re running and how they would address the top issues facing the community. You can read that story here.