Voters select new trustees, Malta High School Building Reserve passes

The Malta and Dodson School Districts held school board elections last week, both of which elected two new trustees to fill spots.

The Saco School District did not have elections, as thyereceived only enough write-in intent declarations to fill two seats, but they named two trustees to their school board as well.

The results here are unofficial counts that came in early Wednesday morning.

Malta

Malta’s ballot held two positions with incumbent Galen Curtis challenged by Beth Welch, Thayne Mackey, Jamie Jones and R. J. Tollefson.

Malta voters also decided on a building reserve that would raise $100,000 a year for each of the next five years. The money will be used for, among other things, updating the boiler in the elementary school which has been in use since the early 1950’s.

Curtis was re-elected to her seat as she received 461 votes and Tollefson, who received the most votes of any candidate with 564, was also voted in as trustee.

Curtis has already been on the school board for six years and will add another three as a trustee when her new term expires.

“I am very happy about it,” she said. “I like working with the school. I enjoyed it as a teacher and I do on the school board also.”

She said that in the next three years she is looking forward to taking on the challenges of replacing the retiring teachers who will need to be replaced at Malta High School. She added that she thanks everyone who voted for her and looks forward to their continued support.

“I will continue to do the best that I can for our school district,” she said. “I’m looking forward to the next three years.”

Tollefson said he was thrilled by the amount of support he received.

“I was hoping to win because I really wanted to get in on the school board,” said Tollefson. “It was kind of refreshing to see that many people in the community supported me as I ended up getting quite a few votes.”

Tollefson, who graduated from Malta High School in 2001, will take a seat on the school board for the first time. He said that he decided to run for the position because he wants to be able to give back to the community plus the fact that education runs in the Tollefson family.

“My parents have both been at the elementary level for quite a few years,” he said. “My mom is currently at the middle school level now and I think that you can make a big difference at a young age with getting kids. My kids are about to get to school so I’d like to make sure that everything gets off on the right track.”

He said that he appreciates everyone’s support and pledged to do the right things for the school and the community.

The building reserve for Malta School was also passed by the voters, 459 in favor and 307 voting against.

“The District is forever grateful for the support of the community in the passage of the Building Reserve Fund,” said Malta School’s Superintendent Kris Kuhen. “Preliminary work has begun on the engineering phase of the boiler replacement project at Malta Elementary.”

The Malta School Board will hear a presentation by Engineer Jay Cedarberg, of Mechanical Technology, Inc. of Billings, at the Regular May Meeting on May 14, 2014 at 7:00 p.m. 

Malta Voting Results:

Gaelen Curtis 453 +8= 461

Jamie Jones 129 + 4 = 133

Thayne Mackey 83 + 0 = 83

RJ Tollefson. 555 + 9 = 564

Beth Welch. 236 + 0 = 236

Building Reserve

For 452 + 7 =459

Against 303 + 4 = 307

Dodson

In Dodson, Bonnie Lankford and Joe Nicholson received the most votes for the school board.

Nicholson, who had 70 votes, has served on the school board for the last four years as he was first appointed to the position in 2010 and then ran unopposed in 2012.

“I feel good about the support that the community has given and the trust they have shown in me with the victory.”

He said that he admires all the people who ran for the seat and respects them all. He thanked everyone who voted for him and said he has great admiration for Dodson and the town’s citizens.

“I grew up there, as did my folks and my grandparents homesteaded there in about 1894,” said Nicholson. “So there has always been that tie to Dodson.”

Nicholson pointed to the issues of limited funding, the need of technology upgrades and the huge costs of running the school’s bus routes as issues he thought would need to be addressed as he looks forward to the future.

“And then there is the upkeep of the school,” he added. “So there are always challenges for a small school, but I look forward to those challenges.”

Lankford was unviable for comment at the writing of this story.

Dodson Voting Results:

Cathy Bear 23

Joe Nicholson 55

Bonnie Lankford 59

Joey Kill Eagle 2

Florence Matte 2

Ava Welch 1

Saco

In Saco, only two candidates applied for the trustee candidacy and Jay Yeska and Nena Malmend were elected by acclimation for three year terms on the board of trustees.