It came down to a tiebreaker vote Friday afternoon, but Roger Boughton is the new Second Ward councilman.

Friday, January 21, 2000

It came down to a tiebreaker vote Friday afternoon, but Roger Boughton is the new Second Ward councilman.

Councilmembers and Maoyor Bonnie Rietz made their selection by first registering their top two candidates each. Three quickly rose to the top, with Boughton receiving six mentions, Garry Ellingson four, and Chuck Anderson also receiving four.

A runoff was held between Ellingson and Anderson, with Ellingson edging Anderson out by one vote to face a runoff with Boughton.

The final vote was to be decided as whichever of the two candidates received four votes would be the winner, and it came down to the very last vote, cast by the mayor, to appoint Boughton.

The decision was reached at a council and city staff retreat at the Ruby Rupner Auditorium at the Jay C. Hormel Nature Center Friday afternoon. Boughton was then called and joined the rest of council to be sworn in and sit in on the rest of the retreat.

"This was an opportunity for the council to pick who they thought they could work with," said a beaming Boughton when he arrived. "They must think that I can work with them as a part of the team."

Boughton, former Vice President for Academic Affairs at Riverland Community College, will serve out the last year of the four-year term for the Second Ward seat. He will have shared that term with Dick Chaffee, who is now Councilmember At-Large, and with Todd Penske, who was appointed to replace Chaffee and stepped down due to a conflict of interest.