By Kate Reardon
Herald Writer
MARYSVILLE — It’s anybody’s game.
Three city council races here are so tight that each race is separated by only a dozen or so votes. It could be three weeks or longer before any clear winners are declared.
Maybe that’s because candidates early on, whether intentional or not, were pegged as being in one camp or the other.
A school board race also is very close, with the incumbent trailing.
City council candidates Tom Grady, John Myers and Jon Nehring were all endorsed by a group called Concerned Citizens of Marysville. And campaign signs supporting the trio were often displayed together in locations around town.
It gives the perception that they were running as a slate, candidate Tim Bond said.
Less than a month ago Bond, Jeff Seibert and Norma Jean Dierck chose to stay away from a candidate’s forum co-sponsored by Concerned Citizens, saying that group was bent on filling the council with pro-business candidates.
Grady, Nehring and Myers aren’t shy about admitting they agree on many issues such as public safety and economic development. But, they said, they come with their own ideas and approaches.
"I won’t always agree with Myers and Grady, but we will be civil to each other," Nehring said, speculating how the trio may work together if they are elected.
Dierck said she was under attack because she supported higher mitigation fees for developers. But regardless of who wins, she plans to keep an open mind for future working relationships.
Bond said if he’s the successor, he sees no problem in working with whoever wins.
"I intend to work with them to the best of my ability," he said. "I’m not completely aware of where they stand on issues."
Regardless, the candidates agreed Wednesday that they will have to wait for more absentees to be counted this Friday.
Grady, who ran against incumbent Dierck for Position 1, said he’s encouraged by Tuesday’s results.
"At this point in the primary, I was woefully behind," he said. "With the late absentees coming through, I’m optimistic."
Dierck said, "We’ll know in three weeks."
Myers, candidate for Position 3, said he believes he did all he could.
"It was really tight," he said. "I don’t feel anything either way."
Myers said he’s not sure about the slate campaign.
"I don’t know if it helped me or hurt me," he said, adding that he was surprised that his race was so tight given the low profile his opponent, Seibert, carried through the campaign, following his daughter’s death in August.
Bond, a candidate for Position 4, said he’s still hopeful.
"There’s still a lot of absentees out there," he said. "Until we get the final results, it’s just hanging loose in anticipation."
Nehring, a candidate for Position 4, said he figured it would be close.
"The waiting is the worst part," he said.
Meanwhile, in a race for the Marysville School Board, Ron Young, a nurse practitioner, holds a 131-vote lead over incumbent Don Hatch for director of District 1.
Young’s lead — 4,240 to 4,109 — represents 50.8 percent of the vote.
Hatch, co-director of the Tulalip Boys and Girls Club, has served 12 years on the board.
You can call Herald Writer Kate Reardon at 425-339-3455 or send e-mail to reardon@heraldnet.com.
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