Kenmore City Council / Sperry, Van Ness lead

Published 6:45 pm Monday, November 9, 2009

According to unofficial results from King County, there were no upsets or surprises in the two races for Kenmore City Council.

The numbers had incumbents Laurie Sperry and Allan Van Ness handily outdistancing challengers Diane Brennan and Patrick O’Brien, respectively.

“I think the election results confirm what I discovered from walking around different Kenmore neighborhoods,” Sperry said. “Most of the people I met were happy about the positive changes they were seeing in Kenmore and excited about moving forward as a city.”

The latest election figures available for this issue had Sperry well ahead of Brennan, 2,746 votes to 1,626.

“I want to thank the citizens of Kenmore for their support and votes,” Van Ness said. “I especially want to thank the volunteers who assisted with the campaign in many ways. Countless hours were spent on campaign literature, delivering it to almost every household in Kenmore, and the placing and maintenance of campaign signs.”

Van Ness had somewhat less of a lead than Sperry, but was still outrunning O’Brien by a count of 2,529 to 1,825.

Both Brennan and O’Brien ran what can only be described as spirited races, especially Brennan, who repeatedly took Sperry and the current Kenmore City Council to task over what she alleged were publicly stated inaccuracies regarding the city budget.

Moving away from controversies, Sperry said she simply would like to put the knowledge and expertise she has gained during her first term on council to work in moving forward with some of the city’s plans.

“I appreciate the opportunity to continue serving the community of Kenmore and am looking forward to completing the highway improvements, finishing our new ‘main street’ and revitalizing our downtown center.”

Kenmore’s council will have one semi-new face in the near future. Former Councilman Bob Hensel once more will soon be current Councilman Bob Hensel, having been the only candidate to file to replace the departing Randy Eastwood.

Hensel previously served on council 2004-2007, when he a lost a bid for re-election to John Hendrickson. During his time away from council, Hensel served on the city’s economic development advisory committee.