A ballot drop box in Forest Grove. Photo: Chas Hundley
GALES CREEK – Voters in the Gales Creek area will be faced with a host of choices in the special districts election on Tuesday, May 21. For local residents, we’ll be covering the race for two seats on the Forest Grove School Board, and three seats on the Forest Grove Rural Fire Protection District. With the exception of one fire board seat, all positions are contested.
For the Forest Grove School Board race, position 4, held by Gales Creek resident Kate Grandusky, will see a three-candidate race, as two candidates, Chris Mejia, a systems coordinator who serves on the Forest Grove School District Budget Committee, and Chelsea Shotts, a Newberg School District employee who works in behavior intervention will attempt to unseat Grandusky.
Position 5 is a wide open race, as long-time school board member Fred Marble did not seek reelection. Two contenders, neither with prior government experience, seek to fill the spot: Narce Rodriguez, Chief Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Officer for Pacific University, and Michael Carter, who was an engineer with Intel for 35 years, according to information supplied when he filed for election.
The Forest Grove Rural Fire Protection District, which covers Gales Creek, Hillside, Glenwood, Verboort, and other rural portions of the area surrounding Forest Grove will see three seats up for election.
In Position 2, long time incumbent Kevin VanDyke will face Brooke Gramer, a Gales Creek resident and firefighter/paramedic.
Position 4, held currently by Nicholas Chas, a Washington County Sheriff’s Deputy and past volunteer firefighter, is faced by Gary Post, a Verboort-area engineer, who also serves as the chair of Community Participation Organization 13.
In Position 5, Dallas Boge, a licensed tax consultant from Gales Creek and decades-long volunteer with Forest Grove Fire & Rescue is running unopposed.
The deadline to register to vote is April 30 and can be done online or by mailing this form to Washington County Elections, 3700 SW Murray Blvd, Ste 101, Beaverton OR 97005.
The Gales Creek Journal will be covering each race and ballot measure in detail; if you haven’t already, subscribe to the Gales Creek Journal to have our interviews with candidates and analysis of ballot measures sent to your email inbox.
Chas Hundley is the editor of the Gales Creek Journal and sister news publications the Banks Post and the Salmonberry Magazine. He grew up in Gales Creek and has a cat.
