New mayors, council for Basin, Burlington and Manderson

Basin, Burlington and Manderson each will have a new mayor in 2027. Of the three offices, only Basin had a race with more than one candidate. 

Basin’s Chuck Hopkin received 222 votes to Carl Olson’s 213 votes. Hopkin is currently on the town council. Olson has been a councilman in the past. There were four write-in votes and 15 undervotes. 

The two newly elected councilpersons are Stuart DesRosier and Michael Tanner. DesRosier was the top vote getter with 288 votes. He currently sits on the council. Tanner received 235 votes. Jennifer Riley was third with 202 votes. Steve VanderPloeg withdrew from the race for the two council seats citing health concerns. Even with the withdrawal he received 21 votes. There were 10 write-in votes, eight over votes and 144 undervotes. 

Gary Brunko is Burlington’s new mayor. He ran unopposed and received 98 votes. There was one write-in vote and six undervotes. Melissa Leonhardt and Michael Harrington won the two open seats for the four-year Burlington council openings, Leonhardt with 51 votes and Harrington with 48 votes. Just out of the running area Jackie Cenker with 45 votes and Matt Walker with 42. There were no write-in votes, and there were 24 undervotes. There was one open two-year seat on the council It will be filled by Jessie Hamilton who received 60 votes compared to Neal Wood with 41 votes. There were no write-ins and a total of four undervotes. 

In Manderson the new mayor will be Bill Duncan. He ran unopposed. Duncan received 27 votes. There were nine undervotes. Manderson’s new four-year councilpersons are Chris Saunders and Thea Saunders. They received 21 and 18 votes respectively. Howard Applegarth garnered 16 votes followed by Tim Patrick’s 13 votes. A total of four undervotes were counted. 

Aleta Driver took the open-two year see by five votes. She received 20 compared to Jack Nielsen’s 15. There was one undervote.