Palmer City Council incumbent could lose seat

October 4, 2006

By LEILA KHEIRY/Frontiersman

A potential upset in the Palmer City Council election will be decided Friday when the canvass board makes its official declaration.

According to Tuesday's unofficial results, challenger Richard Best &#8220bested” incumbent Larry Hill by 18 votes for second-place in the four-person race for two seats. However, close to 100 votes - including absentee, early votes, questioned ballots and special-needs ballots - have yet to be counted.

Incumbent Ken Erbey likely will retain his seat after taking nearly 30 percent of the vote for a first-place finish. Challenger Emil Fondahn, who has been absent from the campaign trail and unavailable by telephone for interviews, garnered about 19 percent of the vote, according to the unofficial results.

Best said Tuesday night that he was pleased with the results and will wait to see what happens Friday.

&#8220I'm honored that the citizens of Palmer have selected me to represent them on the city council,” he said. &#8220The other gentlemen running both have done outstanding jobs on the council. Whoever gets in, it's going to be good for Palmer. I just hope to do as good a job as they have in the past.”

If the election goes in Hill's favor, Best said he'll give a run for council another try next year. In the meantime, if he's not on the council, he hopes to continue work on the Palmer Planning Commission.

Hill responded to the unofficial results stoically.

&#8220That's life,” he said, adding that he's waiting for Friday's official count.

&#8220It's not that far of a separation - only 18 votes difference,” he said. &#8220It could turn around. I ain't too worried about it. I'll wait and see.”

Hill said he didn't hear too many concerns while he was campaigning for re-election. He added that Fondahn's entry into the race might have &#8220screwed things up.”

Hill said if he is not successful after the Friday count, he will continue to be involved, just from the public side of the council table. He said annexation is one big issue that interests him.

Erbey also mentioned annexation as a major issue the council faces in the next few years. He said it's unfortunate that the council recently had to delay moving forward with expanding Palmer's city limits, but it was necessary because of financial uncertainties.

On a related note, Erbey said the next big item on the council's plate is the 2007 budget.

&#8220This year looks like it might be a little more difficult than the past three years,” he said.

The city of Palmer, along with other Alaska communities, faces increased costs due to the state-mandated public employee retirement system.

According to the unofficial results of Tuesday's election, 18.5 percent of Palmer's registered voters cast ballots, which is 656 of the 3,550 registered voters.

That doesn't include the early, questioned, absentee and special needs ballots, which bring the overall voter count to 751 participants.

After the Friday canvass board vote count, set to begin at 2 p.m. at Palmer City Hall at 231 W. Evergreen Ave., the city council is scheduled to certify the results during a special meeting Monday.

Contact Leila Kheiry at

352-2270 or at leila.kheiry@

frontiersman.com