Luck of the Draw in the Cloud

Dault draws for the win
By N3 News Team

Thursday afternoon the two candidates for the third and final seat on the White Cloud City Council met in the office of Newaygo County Clerk Jason VanderStelt to determine which of the two would assume the seat come January.

 An Election Day dead heat left both aspirants with 73 votes so by law the winner would be decided by the luck of the draw. Two slips of paper, one with the word ‘elected’ and the other stating ‘not elected’ were placed in a box then each candidate drew a playing card to determine the order of selection.  Candice Dault who received the higher number card chose the option of deferring the first draw to Jerry LeBlanc and when the slips were opened she emerged as the winner.

Dault’s deciding draw meant the White Cloud City Council will be going through a significant change in personnel come January since it gives the 7 person council three new faces  with Lori Shears (117 votes) and former council member Herm Becker (105 votes) joining Dault at City Hall. 

Long time council members Cassie Rickert and Charles Chandler, who also served as mayor, chose not to run creating the two open seats on the board that serves the citizens of the Trail Town designated city.
 679 registered voters or approximately 82% of the electorate sat this one out,

This revised group will likely hit the road running as proposed initiatives look to alter the landscape of the county seat. The recent Council meeting had a pair of hot button issues  on the agenda including the move toward adding recreational marijuana to the list of cannabis businesses likely to set up shop in town and a proposal by Hope Network involving the construction of a 55 unit supportive housing facility aimed at providing a residence to people struggling with homelessness.
Both issues drew comments and questions from a packed house at this past Monday’s meeting.

Mayor Jamie Denslow who fought off a challenge from Mike Kymes to retain his position is returning along with the three council members who were not up for reelection this term, Jeff Murchison, Ashley Zatalokin and Kay Scott.

​