Mutchler with edge over Watson in race for Ferndale mayor

Jon Mutchler has a slight lead over Cathy Watson in the race for Ferndale mayor, according to the second count of election results released Wednesday afternoon, Nov. 4.

A total of 1,387 voters, about 51 percent, picked Mutchler, giving him 73 more votes than Watson’s 1,314, according to the Whatcom County Auditor’s Office. More ballots remain to be counted, with the next update expected Thursday afternoon.

Both candidates are current City Council members seeking to replace current mayor Gary Jensen, who ran for a seat on the Port of Bellingham Commission but lost to Robert “Bobby” Briscoe.

Mutchler, a pastor at Ferndale Alliance Church and a member of the Whatcom Charter Review Commission, won position five on City Council in 2010. Watson, a former NASA meteorologist, public affairs officer and aerospace engineer, won her council seat in 2012. She is the stand-in for Jensen as mayor should he be absent.

Also on the ballot was a measure to create a new permanent taxing district within Ferndale city limits to raise money for parks and trails. The metropolitan park district measure failed, however, with more than 60 percent of voters rejecting the idea in Wednesday’s counts.

The measure would have levied 50 cents per $1,000 of a home’s assessed value, costing the owner of a $250,000 home $125 a year. That would have generated an estimated $581,000 per year for improving, maintaining and acquiring parks and trails.

With the measure failing, the city will have to find other ways to pay for parks projects. Watson, for example, has said she would rather have the city apply for grants or set up a levy system to fund such projects.

Two City Council positions were contested in the election. Preliminary results show challenger Teresa Taylor, a project manager for Lummi Indian Business Council, has a 51 to 49 percent lead over council member Paul Ingram for the position 4 seat. Only 63 votes separate the two.

Council member Keith Olson won his bid for re-election with 65 percent of the vote to Glenn Stewart’s 35 percent.

Rebecca Xczar, a member of the Ferndale Planning commission and former chairwoman of the Parks, Recreation and Trails Advisory Board, ran unopposed for the position one seat that will be vacated by Watson at the end of the year.

Greg Hansen also ran unopposed and will replace his father, Mel Hansen, for the position two seat. Mel Hansen was elected to City Council in 1999 but decided this year not to seek re-election.

This story was originally published November 4, 2015 at 5:08 PM with the headline "Mutchler with edge over Watson in race for Ferndale mayor."