MLIRD candidates face election day

MOSES LAKE - Driving along Moses Lake's Broadway Avenue, it's hard not to notice the huge "Elect Mick Hansen, vote today," banner stretched across a large motor home.

Hansen, a Moses Lake business owner, is a director candidate for the Moses Lake Irrigation and Rehabilitation District Board of Directors.

He and former Grant County Fairgrounds Manager Bill Bailey faced off in Tuesday's election.

They were competing for board director Norm Benson's open spot.

Results were not available until after the Columbia Basin Herald's deadline Tuesday, but are expected to be released Wednesday.

On election day, Hansen set up a voter information station along Broadway Avenue, just blocks from the polling location at the former John L. Scott building on North Elder Street.

Free donuts, coffee and cocoa were offered to the public at Hansen's station.

Inside Hansen's motor home, a copier sat for voters needing to make copies of their identification for absentee ballots.

People popped their heads into the motor home to find Hansen, ask what they needed to do to vote in the election and if their property was located within district boundaries.

He had a map to check boundaries for voters.

As far as how the election was going, Hansen said "it's anybody's guess."

"It feels as good this year as last (year)," he said.

He ran last year against current board director Ron Covey and was defeated, after an early lead of 500 votes, Hansen said.

"If I can do that again, I'll be happy and we'll see what the absentees bring in," he commented.

He credited retired Grant County Undersheriff Ken Kernan, of Moses Lake, for assisting with the election.

Hansen thinks the complicated voting system for the district should be changed.

It could be done without affecting other districts, as Moses Lake has the only irrigation and rehabilitation district in the state, he said.

If elected, Hansen wants to study property ownerships in areas of Moses Lake being dredged by the district with Ron Baker, of Moses Lake, an engineer.

Land under water is still privately owned, Hansen said.

At the polling place, people waited in line to vote as election judges were sworn in.

Tuesday afternoon, Hansen's opponent, Bailey, was driving with his wife to Wenatchee.

"I hope it's going well," Bailey said of the election. "It's obviously going well for one or the other of us."

Bailey said his main concern was taking his wife to radiation treatments during the next six weeks for her tumor.

"What that says is, you have to put everything in perspective," he said. "Family is a high priority."

Should he win the election, he is fully prepared to take over as director Jan. 1, he said.

Bailey already has changes he would ask the board to consider.

"In other words, I have a plan," he said. "Nothing very Earth-shattering, but certainly things discussed during the election by Mick and myself."

Bailey has a plan to make the dredging work better and more efficient.

He hasn't run for an election before, but is certainly grateful for the work of others and for those who had the confidence to vote for him.

"I anticipate it to be a fairly close election," he said. "What happens today may be a small part of the total picture. I kind of have the impression there are not as many absentees as my opponent or I had hoped."

Bailey called the experience fun because he met many people and learned of the confidence they had in him..

He chuckled to himself after reading the Columbia Basin Herald's election advertisements, submitted opinion columns and letters to the editor.

"Generally, the worse thing my opponent can say about me is that I've been the landlord (of the district's office building)," he said.