3 Highland initiatives defeated

HIGHLAND — Three citizens intitiatives were soundly defeated in Tuesday's elections, but both sides agree that the issues they represented have not been resolved.

"One of the first major challenges I have is solving the issues behind the initiatives," said mayor-elect Jay W. Franson. "The real key is to get out there and get some dialogue going. It's going to be difficult, but that's what we're elected to do."

Franson defeated Blake B. Buhler — a strong supporter of the initiatives — by a margin of 62 percent to 38 percent. All three initiatives were rejected by similar margins.

Initiative one, which would have made the city water board an elected body, was defeated by a 2-1 margin, 1,835 votes to 918. The second initiative, which would have allowed residents to build taller fences along property lines that border open space, was defeated by a margin of 1,654 to 1,093. The third initiative, which would require the city to place grass on certain open space areas, lost 1,789 to 964.

Franson said he was not surprised by the results, as he had perceived that many voters had problems with the specific language of the initiatives. Still, he said the issues need to be addressed and he doesn't think the two sides are as far apart as it may seem.

"I really believe there are some good solutions out there, but with the initiative process, the dialogue kind of slowed down," Franson said.

Two city council candidates who supported the initiatives — Randy Graham and David Beck, a write-in — also lost, although Graham is technically still in the race awaiting the count of provisional ballot.

Incumbent Councilman Brian Brunson won re-election with 1,239 votes, while Claudia Stillman appears to have won the second seat with 1,206 votes, 28 votes ahead of Graham.

City officials did not know how many provisional ballots were cast as of Wednesday.

Council candidate Teri Jerman had 936 votes, while Beck finished with 758.

Regardless of the outcome, Graham said he stands by his campaign platform that city officials need to listen to citizens more.

"The principle is still a good one," he said. "These initiatives came about as a result of the City Council's unwillingness to hear (citizen) concerns."