By Mindy Ragan Wood
Staff Writer
Shelli Selby won the race for the Ward 2 city council seat Tuesday by almost 200 votes, election results show.
Selby thanked her opponent Erick Westfahl for a well-run campaign and avoiding
“I want to thank Erick for a clean, wonderfully run campaign,” she said Thursday. “I have heard stories about other campaigns that got nasty and I feel that both of us were able to keep it dignified and civil. We’re still neighbors and I applaud him.”
Results showed Selby gained 373 votes to Westfahl’s 192. Most of her votes were from the Spanish Cove precinct. Selby worked at Spanish Cove for several years. However, she had a strong showing in the other two precincts.
Selby will soon attend a workshop for new council members.
“I’m looking forward to that. I can’t wait to learn the system, the procedures and how city government works so I can be informed and get started,” she said.
Selby is anxious to begin her work as a city council member.
“I’ll be going to traffic commission on Tuesday to request a do-not-block road sign be installed at the intersection of Ridgeway and Vandament. They can’t get out of their addition in the morning because of the traffic to IES (Independence Elementary School) and a simple solution would be a do not block entrance sign,” she said.
Westfahl offered his congratulations to Selby after the city council meeting Tuesday night.
“It was an honor to congratulate her at the city council meeting. I got the results and I had the pleasure of sharing the results with her as soon as they came in. She’s worked so hard and I know she’s going to do a fantastic job for the city of Yukon,” he said.
Westfahl said his loss was bittersweet considering all he learned along the way.
“The real information is in these planning sessions. You really find out more of the everyday dealings and those things tend to be worked out pretty well by the time of voting. If people will come to a planning session, they’ll understand really quickly that they don’t bring it to the council until there are solutions in place and it’s ready to be approved,” he said. “That’s one of the many things I learned.”
Another lesson not lost on the businessman was the number of people it takes to operate a city, including staff and volunteers.
“From the chamber to city staff, council members, there’s a lot of people that work hard and love this community. I had really not known about them until these past few months and it’s amazing to see how many people are really working hard and most of them just as volunteers. It’s what makes us separate from other communities around the metro,” he said.
Both candidates said they appreciated voters and campaign volunteers for all their hard work.
“I want to thank the people who supported me and especially the voters who got out and voted. I feel honored to be their representative and I want to try to make them proud,” Selby said.
Westfahl said he will still participate in the community through the chamber of commerce and community activities.
“For all the people that did support me and encourage me, I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity to run. It was a great experience and I look forward to serving Yukon in other ways.”
