Whitefish voters re-elected incumbent City Council members Richard Hildner and Frank Sweeney on Tuesday and added Katherine Williams to the council.

They were the three top vote-getters out of five candidates.

In Kalispell, Rod Kuntz won a three-way race in the only contested Kalispell City Council race.

Whitefish voters rejected a ballot measure that would have created a citizen advocate position in city government.

Voters did support a city charter change that eliminates the requirement that the city manager attend Planning Board meetings.

Whitefish Mayor John Muhlfeld was unopposed in his re-election bid and received 1,191 votes.

Hildner and Sweeney were unfazed by Whitefish philanthropist Richard Atkinson’s mail campaign to unseat the two incumbents. Atkinson has been a vocal opponent of the $14.95 million City Hall and parking structure project that the incumbents had a role in approving.

Two other Whitefish council candidates came up short in their election bids. John Repke garnered 784 votes, while Barton Slaney got 389 votes.

There were 1,520 ballots cast in Whitefish out of 3,300 that were mailed to active registered voters.

In Kalispell’s Ward 3, incumbent Kuntz fended off a challenge from Karlene Osorio-Khor.

Kuntz had 218 votes and Osorio-Khor had 193. Chris Cunningham received 61 votes.

Osorio-Khor said a bigger voter turnout at the polls might have put her over the top of her race with Kuntz. Just 32 voters cast their ballots in person for Osorio Khor while 37 voted for Kuntz. The lion’s share of the Ward 3 vote came from absentee ballots, where Kuntz bested her by a 20-vote margin.

“I think my message resonated with voters,” Osorio-Khor said. “They wanted something different. They wanted change ... A bigger voter turnout would have helped.”

Osorio-Khor also said her campaign was challenged by what she characterized as “misstatements” by Kuntz.

“I spent a lot of time trying to correct misstatements Rod made and that was unfortunate,” she said, referring to the debate over westside parking.

Kuntz said he is excited to get on with the next four years.

“You’re going to see some great things out of City Council,” he said. “Karlene has been in the local political scene for a long number of years. I was still an underdog and that’s a positive message. I can get things done and I know how to compromise.”

Kuntz was instrumental in developing a parking-pass district for the Flathead High School neighborhood, which became a hot-button issue in Ward 3.

The other three Kalispell City Council races were uncontested. Kari Gabriel received 398 votes in Ward 1, Wayne Saverud received 724 votes in Ward 2 and Phil Guiffrida received 313 votes in Ward 4.

Voter turnout in Kalispell was 19 percent.

In Columbia Falls, incumbents Darrin Fisher and Doug Karper along with John Piper won council seats in a six-way race. Karper received 329 votes, Fisher 322 and Piper 290.

They were challenged by Tyler Lee Furry, who received 91 votes, Frederick “Erick” Robbins with 210 votes and Shawn Bates with 124.

In Libby, incumbent council members Allen Olsen and Peggy Williams were re-elected to the Libby City Council, along with Brian Zimmerman.

In the only other contested election in Lincoln County, Rosalie Adauto and Kevin Jefferies were elected to the Eureka City Council.

Joe Arts and Crystal Denton were elected in an uncontested race for council in Troy, as was Stormy Langston for Eureka City Judge and Dejon Raines for the unexpired two years remaining on Robin Benson’s term in Libby.

Following are unofficial election results from the Flathead Valley:

WHITEFISH

City Council

(three four-year terms)

Richard Hildner (i)    946

John Repke    784

Barton Slaney    389

Frank Sweeney (i)    894

Katherine Williams    887

Mayor

John Muhlfeld (i)    1,191

BALLOT ISSUES

(from Whitefish Government Study Commission)  

    • Amend city charter to create ombudsperson or citizen advocate position.

For    538

Against    917

   • Amend city charter to remove requirement that city manager attend city Planning Board meetings.

For    830

Against    600

COLUMBIA FALLS

City Council

(three four-year terms)

Shawn Bates    124

Darin Fisher (i)    322

Tyler Lee Furry    91

Doug Karper (i)    329

John H. Piper    290

“Erick” Robbins    210

KALISPELL

City Council Ward 1

Kari Sue Gabriel (i)   398

City Council Ward 2

Wayne Saverud (i)    724

City Council Ward 3

Chris Cunningham    61

Karlene Osorio-Khor     193

Rod Kuntz (i)    218

City Council Ward 4

Phil Guiffrida (i)    313