By Arwyn Rice
Peninsula Daily News
Juanita Weissenfels is the apparent winner of a Forks City Council seat while Roy “Spider” Wright was the top choice for a Clallam County Fire District No. 5 seat in the first tally of votes for West End races.
Weissenfels, 65, a retired teacher, took 235 votes, or 65.1 percent, for Position 1, while Giancarlo Buonpane, 55, had 126 votes, or 34.9 percent.
Weissenfels was unavailable for comment Tuesday night.
Buonpane, a self-employed business owner and heavy-equipment operator, said he planned to wait to see how the count finished but congratulated Weissenfels on her apparent win.
“I’m sure she will do the best she can possibly do,” Buonpane said.
Buonpane said he was concerned about the Wild Olympics campaign and said he could have been helpful with the Russell Road bridge project.
The winner will take the place of council member Gus Wallerstedt, who chose not run for re-election this fall.
Wright, 57, was leading with 62.56 percent of the vote in Tuesday’s tally.
Wright had 127 votes, while Bill Drath had 76 votes, or 37.44 percent.
Wright is a Sekiu carpenter while Drath, 50, of Clallam Bay is a 22-year veteran ranger in Washington State Parks.
Running unopposed were Forks Council incumbents Kevin Hinchen in Position 4 and Michael D. Breidenbach in Position 5.
The Forks City Council terms are not paid positions. They are for four years.
The council oversees a $4.5 million budget and 30 full-time employees.
The Clallam Bay Fire District seat is for a six-year term.
Compensation is $104 per meeting.
The fire district has a $196,218 budget in 2012, with one salaried employee and 22 volunteers.
The area covers Clallam Bay, Hoko and Sekiu, and includes 2,200 people, including 900 inmates at the Clallam Bay Corrections Center.
The Clallam County elections office counted 17,802 ballots Tuesday, or 38 percent of the 45,731 registered voters who were mailed ballots and has about 5,000 left to count from all ballots received as of Tuesday and what is estimated will come in today.
The next tally is scheduled by 4:30 p.m. Thursday.
