Denson, Rodenberg, Markley are winners in Gig Harbor city council races

Gig Harbor will have a reshaped City Council after last week’s election.

Latest election results show park board member Robyn Denson elected over business consultant Michelle Matheson by a large margin for Council Position 1. Denson had 2,650 votes, or 64.5 percent; Matheson, 1,445 votes, or 35.1 percent.

Retired businessman Le Rodenberg was elected over former Council Member John Picinich, 2,239 to 1,604, for Council Position 6. The percentages were 57.8 to 41.4 percent.

Tracie Markley, running unopposed, received 3,120 votes for Council Position 4.

The figures are from results released by the Pierce County Election Bureau at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 12. Succeeding vote tallies are to be released each weekday until Nov. 24.

Robyn Denson is a former legislative policy analyst who has served four terms on the city parks commission.

“Omigosh, I’m exhausted, but very happy,” Denson said after a victory party at Wet Coast Brewing on election night. “We had a wonderful party with our friends and neighbors.”

“I’m very excited that we were able to run a non-partisan, small-town campaign, very reflective or our community, and I think that meant a lot to people,” she said. “I’m hoping to work with everyone, whether they voted for me or not.”

Denson will succeed Ken Malich, a council veteran who decided to retire.

Rodenberg is a retired manufacturing executive and longtime president of the Gig Harbor Sportsmens’ Club. Late election eve, he was still cleaning up after the victory party at the club.

“I’m doing the dishes,” he said. His wife, he joked, “doesn’t realize I’m important now.”

“I feel really good,” about the election,” he said. “It’s going to be a challenge. There have always been those 4-3 votes, and I’m worried that might continue.”

Rodenberg had loosely aligned himself with Michelle Matheson, who lost to Robyn Denson. But he said, “I respect Robyn. She’s my neighbor, and we have a friendly relationship, so I’m hoping we can both bring some of that to the council.”

Rodenberg was opposed by John Picinich, a retired teacher and two-term former council member who campaigned briefly and then mostly dropped out of sight.

Traffic mitigation is the council’s next big problem, Rodenberg said. If Prop 1 doesn’t pass, the council is going to have to seek funding from the state, with improved access to State Route 16 a priority.

Markley ran unopposed for Position 4, a seat being vacated by incumbent Spencer Hutchins. She is a former real estate agent who has served on the city parks commission. Because Hutchins was an appointee, she will take her seat in December, a month earlier than the other two new members.

“I am ready for this,” Markley said as she put her children to bed election night. “I have been preparing for months, reading and going to meetings and researching, trying to learn the job. That’s been my main focus.”

The council is supposed to pass the 2020 budget in November, but if it doesn’t, Markley may have to vote on it in her first meeting, Dec. 9. So she’s been boning up, she says, with a much marked-up copy of the draft budget.

Beyond the budget, she sees the debate over minimum lot size and changes to development agreements as big issues looming.

All three candidates focused on handling growth as the city’s most pressing problem, and all agreed generally that building out infrastructure and amenities was important.

This story was originally published November 5, 2019 at 12:00 AM.