POSTED: Friday, Dec. 04, 2009

Election recount: Mutchler will be newest Ferndale City Council member

Five Ferndale voters have made Jon Mutchler one of two new City Council members after the Whatcom County Auditor's Office finished up its recount process.

Originally leading by four votes, Mutchler gained one more over Councilman Ken Downey after the recount found a vote that hadn't been tallied, said Elections Supervisor Pete Griffin. The final count: 1,265 votes to 1,260. The results are scheduled to be certified Friday, Dec. 4.

"Being in a really close election (as is so often the case in Ferndale) compels a candidate to not take any voter for granted," Mutchler said in an e-mail Thursday, Dec. 3. "But the bigger lesson we should learn is that those entrusted with the privilege of governing should not take any of our citizens for granted."

Mutchler joins Ferndale Community Coordinating Association President Brent Goodrich as a freshman councilmember in 2010, after Goodrich defeated City Councilman Keith Olson in the November election.

Downey said he was fine with the results and wouldn't ask for another recount, which he would have had to pay for. In fact, the results probably make his wife pretty happy.

After all, she didn't vote for her husband or Mutchler, Downey said.

"Probably by late September ... she was telling me that I didn't need to be on the council anymore, it was time to be home," he said.

But that was after the August primary that put the two candidates into the general election, Downey said, so he remained in the race to give voters a choice.

"Letting the election play out gave the people in Ferndale a chance to say what they really wanted to happen," he said. "So that's the right outcome."

Mutchler said his first priority on the council will be to work toward smart long-term solutions for the city. Big projects like a new library and police station need to be considered in a way to assess how they will impact people generations from now, he said. After all, the library has lasted the city only 17 years and will now likely become a police station.

"It's hard, but we've got to somehow put ourselves in the future a bit," he said. "What's the best decision that our kids are going to feel good about?"

Mutchler also said he wants to work toward a less divisive governing body.

"I just want the tenor and tone of city and council business to be peaceful and cooperative and have an appropriate amount of compromise, where we're trying to find the best in what we want, and each other, to make some better decisions," he said.