Until little more than a week ago, the Ranier election was a quiet race with an uncontested candidate for mayor and three candidates running for two council seats.
A last minute write-in campaign for the reelection of current Ranier Mayor Ed Oerichbauer and Trustee Dan Klocek turned the town on its ear about what was at stake that became so suddenly important.
Oerichbauer was reelected mayor with 62 votes, defeating Edmund Woods Jr. with 34 votes.
There were two open trustee seats on the Ranier City Council.
John Walls led all trustee votes with 62. The write in votes for Dan Klocek totaled 60. Thomas Hall followed with 34, and Norris Klesman with 13.
John Walls said the current council works well together and tries to do the best for the city.
“I am hopeful it will continue,” said Walls. “We will fight for everything as it comes along.”
Kim Nuthak, Ranier city clerk and chief election judge for the 2008 primary and general elections, said the turnout Tuesday was nothing short of “awesome.”
“Out of all our registered voters we might have been missing two,” said Nuthak. “Then, we had a lot of new registered voters and absentee ballots.”
“It was phenomenal,” she added.
The write-in campaign launched by “Citizens for a New Ranier” was initiated by former Ranier Mayor Dave Trompeter. Oerichbauer and Klocek agreed to serve if write-in campaign succeeded.
The group was motivated to keep the current council intact as waterline studies show the city is about to undertake a major fiscal project. They emphasized a desire to seek the annexation of nearby French and Jameson neighborhoods to the west, along and Three Points North further east.
Ranier, which gets it water from International Falls, provides water to these neighborhoods. Those campaigning for the write-in candidates believe annexations would help absorb costs while keeping the city independent. Annexation would require a city referendum before the process could move forward.
Walls said that nothing has been decided yet and that the council will revisit the issue at the next meeting.
Woods, who served as a Ranier trustee from 1988 to 1992, said he felt the late write-in campaign did not allow him time to react in an otherwise uncontested campaign. He said the water issue blinds residents to the other services and higher costs that annexation could bring.
The composition of the council remains the same and Woods said he questions its direction and management of city funds. He felt the water issue was misleading and called it dirty politics from a mayor that has run twice without a platform.
“No way can we say this mandates anything to that Ed (Oerichbauer) was promoting,” said Woods. “This whole thing is a vote about personality and a vote against common sense.”
Woods said that he will be attending city council meeting and plans to be present at all water break work. He would like the council to be present as well, “to see what really is happening.”
“This elections shows that the country wants a change, but Ranier wants to stay the same,” he added.
