SEQUIM — Jan Richardson, an advocate for 24-hour access to the Sequim Aquatic Recreation Center, is headed for position 5 on the SARC Board of Commissioners.
In his third run for a board seat, the 71-year-old construction industry retiree won 4,086 votes, or 60.19 percent of the ballots counted by Tuesday night. His opponent Sonu Deol garnered 2,703 votes, or 39.81 percent.
“I would have been happy if [Deol] got in,” Richardson said Tuesday night. “We just need somebody new” on SARC’s governing board.
Deol, a 38-year-old homemaker and mother of three, has said that while SARC has a rich program for seniors, it should add more activities for working adults, families and children. Her own kids are 8, 7 and 3.
“We were hoping to get somebody a little bit younger on the board,” Deol said Tuesday night.
In the race for SARC board position 3 between incumbent Melinda Griffith and write-in candidate Bill Black, the results were equally decisive.
Griffith had 5,275 votes, or 89.53 percent, while Black’s name was written onto 617 ballots, or 10.47 percent.
Griffith, 70, was in Bellevue Tuesday night with a chorus she belongs to, and unavailable for comment.
Black, 75, wished her well, saying he hopes Griffith can help SARC “get back to the path of financial stability.”
The nonpartisan SARC commissioners serve four-year, unpaid terms and oversee the center’s annual budget of $1 million.
SARC, with its swimming pool, weight- and cardiovascular-training rooms and group fitness classes, serves the Dungeness Valley and environs, from Blue Mountain Road to the west to Gardiner to the east.
The next ballot count for Tuesday’s all-mail election will be finished by 4:30 p.m. Thursday.
PARK/REC DISTRICT 1 (SARC) Commissioner Position No. 3
Melinda E. Griffith
5,275 100%
Total Votes 5,275 100%
PARK/REC DISTRICT 1 (SARC) Commissioner Position No. 4
Gill Goodman
5,433 100%
Total Votes 5,433 100%
PARK/REC DISTRICT 1 (SARC) Commissioner Position No. 5
Jan L. Richardson
4,086 60.19%
Sonu Deol
2,703 39.81%
Total Votes 6,789 100%
