The candidates for Clark Public Utilities commissioner were whittled to two after Tuesday’s primary election: incumbent Byron Hanke and former commissioner Jane Van Dyke. The two will face off in the Nov. 4 election to represent District 3, an area that encompasses southwest Clark County, on the utility’s three-member Board of Commissioners.
Van Dyke led the Tuesday night election results by a margin of 35.56 percent of the vote to Hanke’s 31.77 percent, a difference of about 720 votes. Candidates Michael Piper and Bill Hughes fell short with 20.76 and 12.15 percent of the vote, respectively.
While the primary election was limited to voters in District 3, in the general election all county voters may cast ballots.
“I think I will campaign well throughout the county with my good knowledge and honest perspective,” said Van Dyke, who’s currently executive director of the Columbia Slough Watershed Council.
When Hanke was elected to the District 3 position in 2002, he succeeded Van Dyke, who’d decided against running for re-election after serving the utility for 18 years. Now, Van Dyke has returned.
“Obviously I have some work to do. I’m not satisfied with those results,” said Hanke, who seeks a third six-year term. “This is just a districtwide compilation of results.”
Hanke is retired. His previous professional work includes serving as executive director of the Port of Vancouver and holding administrative positions at the utility.
Nonpartisan commissioners help decide the customer-owned utility’s annual budgets, set electric and water rates, and supervise the utility’s CEO — all for an agency that provides electricity to more than 185,000 customers and that supplies water to more than 31,000 homes and businesses in the region.
So far, Van Dyke has raised $6,825 for her campaign and Hanke has raised $15,442, according to the state’s Public Disclosure Commission.
