Milne edges incumbent Hansen for council seat

Tooele voters chose to keep Patrick Dunlavy at the helm as their mayor for another four years, while replacing councilman John Hansen with Shawn Milne.

Dunlavy pulled down 2,110 votes, or 64 percent of the vote, compared to challenger Becky Bracken’s 1,162 votes, or 35 percent.

This will be Dunlavy’s second term as mayor of the city he has worked for for over 40 years.

“I am thankful for everybody’s support,” Dunlavy said. “We will carry on with our work to make Tooele the best city.”

Dunlavy, who picked up 54 percent of the vote in the primary, said he was happy to see that he had picked up another 10 percent of the vote in the general election.

In the race for city council, incumbent Scott Wardle was decidedly returned to the council for another four years with 2,157 votes, or 34 percent of the vote in the four-candidate race.

Shawn Milne, a local business owner and five-year veteran of the city planning and zoning commission, pulled off a victory in his second attempt for a council seat.

As of the final report Tuesday night, Milne had beaten incumbent John Hansen by 122 votes.

Milne, however, was exercising caution, and did not claim victory.

“The primary race showed us that it is not over until the last vote is counted,” Milne said.

This was Bracken’s first foray into politics after retiring this year from a 20-year career on the Tooele police force.

“It has been an adventure,” said Bracken as the final numbers were posted on the screen in the basement of the Tooele County building.

The election has been a roller coaster ride for Bracken. The night of the primary it looked like she was off the ballot, finishing in third place,18 votes behind Dan Egelund. However, a recount the following Monday that included 188 provisional ballots and 62 absentee ballots that had not previously been counted put Bracken ahead of Egelund by three votes.

Election Day voter turn out in Tooele was more than twice that of the primary.

All together 3,284 voters selected the city’s leadership for the next four years. There were 18,088 registered voters in Tooele City as of the primary election, meaning 18 percent of registered voters turned out for the general election, compared to 8 percent that voted in the primary.

Tim Gillie: tgillie@tooeletranscript.com