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Recount planned in Brooklyn Park City Council race
(Created: Thursday, November 6, 2008 4:44 PM CST) |
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Trepanier, Heng win other council races BY SARAH WOLFE SUN NEWSPAPERS
A recount is planned in a close race between incumbent Mark Mata and challenger Peter Crema for the East District seat on the Brooklyn Park City Council.
Unofficial results from Hennepin County give Crema a slight edge in the race. He is leading Mata by just 28 votes.
Crema garnered 49.6 percent of the vote (5,287 votes) compared to Mata's 49.3 percent (5,259 votes).
Write-in candidates won 119 votes.
City Clerk Devin Montero said Thursday, Nov. 6, he received a request for a recount from Mata on Wednesday, Nov. 5.
City staff and election judges will begin a manual recount of the 10,665 ballots cast in the race at 10 a.m. Friday, Nov. 14.
The recount may continue into Saturday, Nov. 15, and Sunday, Nov. 16, if necessary, Montero said.
The results must then be canvassed and certified again, likely that next week, he said.
The last city recount occurred during the 2004 primary election, when a recount in the Central District council race resulted in a tie, Montero said.
The tie was broken by the flip of a coin by Mayor Steve Lampi, he said.
Mata did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment on the recount.
In other council races, incumbent Mike Trepanier won re-election in the Central District, while challenger Dean Heng beat out incumbent Terry Gearin in the West District.
With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Trepanier won 63.1 percent of the vote (5,753 votes) compared with challenger Boyd Morson's 36.3 percent (3,312 votes). There were 56 write-in votes.
Trepanier said tough budget times will mean the city won't be able to "do everything everybody wants," but added continuing the Neighborhood Action Program was a priority.
"I really do believe neighborhoods are the heart and soul of our community," Trepanier said. "We have invested heavily in regards to what we've done with the NAP program and it's starting to work. I'm really excited about it, but we can't stop. If we stop, we will go backwards."
Other priorities in his next term are single-family rental properties and foreclosures, as well as city development and redevelopment.
In the East District, Heng received 55.3 percent (3,957 votes) of the vote compared to Gearin's 43.2 percent (3,094 votes). There were 105 write-in votes.
Heng said he was pleased by the win, but added he believes the city has a tough year ahead of it.
"I just think the city is going to have to live without, just as much as residents are going have to put things off for a while," he said. "Sure, it would be nice to do all these programs but we're going to get hit by this bailout of the federal government, and I don't know how much that's going to affect our taxes. If we increase our taxes so much, it's really going to be a hardship."
Rentals and foreclosures are two of Heng's big concerns. He said he'd also like to grant all the requests by the city's new police chief, but added "with tight budgets some of the other departments are going to have to give up something or delay something."
The winners serve four-year council terms and receive an $11,400 annual salary.
The City Clerk's Office said 26,644 voters cast ballots in the Tuesday, Nov. 4, general election. That number includes same-day voter registrations.
Local voter turnout was 76.4 percent, officials said.
Mata did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment on the recount.
In other council races, incumbent Mike Trepanier won re-election in the Central District, while challenger Dean Heng beat out incumbent Terry Gearin in the West District.
With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Trepanier won 63.1 percent of the vote (5,753 votes) compared with challenger Boyd Morson's 36.3 percent (3,312 votes). There were 56 write-in votes.
Trepanier said tough budget times will mean the city won't be able to "do everything everybody wants," but added continuing the Neighborhood Action Program was a priority.
"I really do believe neighborhoods are the heart and soul of our community," Trepanier said. "We have invested heavily in regards to what we've done with the NAP program and it's starting to work. I'm really excited about it, but we can't stop. If we stop, we will go backwards."
Other priorities in his next term are single-family rental properties and foreclosures, as well as city development and redevelopment.
In the East District, Heng received 55.3 percent (3,957 votes) of the vote compared to Gearin's 43.2 percent (3,094 votes). There were 105 write-in votes.
Heng said he was pleased by the win, but added he believes the city has a tough year ahead of it.
"I just think the city is going to have to live without, just as much as residents are going have to put things off for a while," he said. "Sure, it would be nice to do all these programs but we're going to get hit by this bailout of the federal government, and I don't know how much that's going to affect our taxes. If we increase our taxes so much, it's really going to be a hardship."
Rentals and foreclosures are two of Heng's big concerns. He said he'd also like to grant all the requests by the city's new police chief, but added "with tight budgets some of the other departments are going to have to give up something or delay something."
The winners serve four-year council terms and receive an $11,400 annual salary.
The City Clerk's Office said 26,644 voters cast ballots in the Tuesday, Nov. 4, general election. That number includes same-day voter registrations.
Local voter turnout was 76.4 percent, officials said.
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