Moto elected as Northwest Arctic Borough mayor for a 2nd term

Dickie Moto won his second term as Northwest Arctic Borough mayor in the Oct. 1 election.

Moto received 608 votes, according to the official election results. His sole opponent, Carl Nasruk Weisner, has 399 votes.

Moto said that during his first term as borough mayor, he has been focused on expanding the Village Public Safety Officer program to every village. He said he has also been supporting alternative energy sources to bring living costs down in the villages and putting some borough funds into savings to prepare for a decline in Red Dog Mine revenue.

Weisner, who now works for the Native Village of Kotzebue’s housing department, ran for mayor to assist municipal governments in fiscal management, find ways to address declining borough revenue and support young borough residents. He said last week that he appreciated the voters who supported him.

“I’m proud of and am thankful for all of the good people who lifted me up during the campaign,” Weisner said. “Best wishes to Mayor Moto and his administration.”

[Longtime Northwest Arctic elected official challenges current borough mayor]

Assembly and School Board races

In a race for the assembly’s Seat A, incumbent Elmer Armstrong Jr. won against Elsie B. Sampson, 425 votes to 356. The third candidate for the seat, Walter W. Downey, garnered 191 votes.

Armstrong Jr. has been serving in Seat A since 2016 and said he was running to keep improving public safety and local infrastructure and addressing the high cost of living in the region.

[Northwest Arctic Borough Assembly candidates bring up ideas for declining budget and mental health needs]

The only candidate for Seat B, Austin Swan Sr., garnered 898 votes. This will be his fifth term and he plans to keep improving the local VPSO program, securing a reliable source of revenue for the borough and relocating the village of Kivalina.

Incumbent Reid Paaluk Magdanz, the sole candidate running for Seat J, received 876 votes.

Magdanz’s focus is preparing the borough budget for the Red Dog Mine revenue decline by finding spending to cut and areas to prioritize. He also wants the borough to prioritize services that promote mental health and healing for the residents.

In the race for Seat K, incumbent Walter G. Sampson received 603 votes while Johnson Greene received 388.

In the races for School Board, write-in candidate Alice Adams secured Seat A with 48 votes and write-in candidate Jeanne Gerhardt-Cyrus garnered 42 votes for Seat C.

Securing the School Board’s Seat B is incumbent Millie Hawley. She received 839 votes. Hawley has said she wants to continue supporting students and move forward with projects such as creating family units at the Alaska Technical Center.

Write-in candidate Raymond Woods secured Seat D by garnering 16 votes.

Shannon Melton, running for the School Board’s Seat F, earned 876 votes.

Kotzebue City

The City of Kotzebue announced Tuesday its newly elected officials.

Derek Haviland-Lie became the new city mayor, according to the announcement.

Kathleen Sherman secured city council Seat D with 276 votes. Sherman said she ran for the seat to pay it back to the community after her son was rescued by the city’s emergency services. She said that as a city council member, she wanted to focus on the city’s water issue.

Ruth Moto won the race for Seat E with 344 votes. Cory Jackson gained 37 votes and became the council member for Seat F.

The election of vice mayor was postponed until further notice, city officials said.

As of Oct. 8, three questioned ballots remained uncounted but they were not going to change the election results, city staff said.