Fairbanks, Palmer choose new mayors in Tuesday elections

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The cities of Fairbanks and Palmer have new mayors, after elections held across the state Tuesday.

Fairbanks City Council member Jerry Cleworth received 53 percent of the vote to defeat incumbent Mayor Terry Strle, who had 46 percent of the vote. Cleworth, 58, has served 20 years on the city council. He is the owner of Alaska Rare Coins, a shop in downtown Fairbanks.

In Palmer, DeLana Johnson won the four-way mayoral contest with 41 percent of the vote, followed by Kevin Brown with 24 percent of the vote, Michael Chmielewski with 22 percent and Emil Fondahn with 3 percent.

Borough voters considered five ballot propositions Tuesday.

Proposition 1, which asked voters whether they wanted a mayoral form of government to replace the borough manager position, was defeated with 5,322 no votes to 4,711 yes votes.

Voters also said no to Proposition 2, which would have authorized $32.5 million in bonds for 13 road projects throughout the Valley. It failed with 5,328 no votes to 5,068 yes votes.

Proposition 3, a bond issue for schools, was approved by 5,542 yes votes to 5,037 no votes. The package of general-obligation bonds not to exceed $33.9 million, to finance the renovation and renewal of educational capital improvement projects and related capital improvements in the borough, passed by a 500-vote margin.

Proposition 4’s funding for improved school district athletic facilities were voted down by 5,926 no votes to 4,444 yes votes. The $9 million bond would have gone toward renovating sport facilities at five area high schools.   

Voters also defeated Proposition 5 by a wide margin of 7,732 no votes to 2,635 yes votes. It would have allowed local candidates in the borough to be exempt from filing financial disclosure forms required by the State of Alaska, instead filing a borough financial disclosure statement.