The race for a seat on East Pierce Fire & Rescue’s board of commissioners got even hotter Wednesday after another round of ballots were counted.
Two men vying for the post now are tied with 6,868 votes apiece.
“I don’t think there’s been this many votes cast in a fire commission race ever. And I can’t think of the last time there was a tie,” said Patrick McElligott, who’s challenging incumbent Edward Egan.
A few other races in Pierce County suburbs were also exceptionally close. Two Fife City Council opponents were separated by four votes, and two in Buckley were 12 votes apart.
McElligott, 57, a Tacoma Fire Department captain, was trailing Egan by nine votes on election night. As of Wednesday evening, they were all knotted up.
McElligott said he’s confident about his chances. “This is a new, growing district that I think needs some new leadership,” he said.
Egan, 69, a retired safety director for Weyerhaeuser, also said he’s feeling good.
“I’m very optimistic and hopefully everything will work out,” he said. “I want to serve the people of the community I live in. That’s my goal.”
The district, headquartered in Bonney Lake, is the third-largest in the county, serving more than 84,000 people over 149 square miles.
Commissioners are paid $104 each day they work.
The race for Position 4 has drawn an unusual amount of cash for a fire commission contest. McElligott has spent more than $11,800, according to information from the state Public Disclosure Commission. He received $8,800 from the local firefighters union.
Egan, who chose the option in which he pledged not to raise or spend more than $5,000, said he’s spent about $4,000 from his own pocket.
Elsewhere in East Pierce County, Bryan Howard was leading Marvin Sundstrom by 12 votes for Position 7 on the Buckley City Council. The two men were tied election night.
Howard, 42, is a King County sheriff’s captain. “I don’t know what the outcome will be,” he said, speaking before Wednesday’s ballot count. “I’m ready for whatever it is.”
Sundstrom, 80, is a retired engineer. His wife also is vying for a Buckley council seat and was trailing her opponent by 81 votes.
“Our kids are making a bigger deal out of how we’re doing than we are,” Sundstrom said. “(We aren’t) sitting in front of the TV biting our nails. We have no political ambitions. We just want to see the people of Buckley get a fair shake.”
Sara Schilling: 253-552-7058
sara.schilling@thenewstribune.com
blog.thenewstribune.com/street
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