Van Dyke leads Hanke in utility board race

Early election results show voters favoring Jane Van Dyke in the race for Clark Public Utilities commissioner. Tuesday night’s election results said she had 52.3 percent of the vote against incumbent Byron Hanke’s 47.3 percent.

They are vying for a spot on the three-member board to represent District 3, an area that includes west Vancouver and Hazel Dell. In the Aug. 5 primary election, only voters in District 3 were allowed to pick one of the candidates. In the general election, all voters could cast ballots.

“I’m really pleased with the numbers,” said Van Dyke. “I’m feeling fairly positive that the numbers will hold up, but we’ll have to see when further ballots are counted tomorrow.”

Van Dyke served on the utility’s board from 1984 to 2002 before stepping aside. Hanke, the longtime executive director at the Port of Vancouver, was elected as her successor. Van Dyke returned this year to try to unseat Hanke, currently the board president.

“I’ll just have to see what develops from here,” Hanke said of the early results.

Commissioners help decide the customer-owned utility’s annual budgets, set electric and water rates, and oversee the chief executive. The public utility provides electricity to more than 185,000 customers and supplies water to more than 31,000 homes and businesses.