By Ken Smith
Turnagain Times
It was virtually a clean sweep for Propositions in the 2008 Municipal Election as all but one passed—Prop. 8, the deregulation of taxis. The Assembly will have four new members, and Chris Birch retained his Seat on the Assembly, representing South Anchorage and Turnagain Arm communities. Locally, Bryan Epley won the only contested Seat on the Girdwood Board of Supervisors.
Incumbent Epley retained Seat C on the GBOS, defeating Jan Hood and Hank Hosford. Epley received 165 votes to Hood’s 87. Hosford had 50 votes. There are two years left on Epley’s seat. GBOS members John Gallup, Seat E, and Jake Thompson, Seat D, were uncontested and will serve a second three-year term.
Birch found himself in a hotly contested battle with challenger Mike Kenny. Birch won by a 10 percent margin, collecting 5,188 votes to Kenney’s 4,227. Jesse Busick came in a distant third with 402 votes.
Proposition 2 directly impacts the Girdwood school. It passed by a vote of 57 percent in favor to 42 percent opposed. Now that it’s approved, a portion of the school bond for $34.3 million will be used to pay for design plans for the expansion of the Girdwood school. The design is the first step to building a new high school in Girdwood or at least expanding the school to accommodate a growing student population for elementary and middle school aged children.
Municipal Election Results: Assembly Seats • LRSA Seats • Propositions 1 - 8 • Propositions 9 - 20