Incumbent supervisors likely to return

All incumbents who sought to keep their seats on the Yuma County Board of Supervisors were likely successful.

Lenore Lorona Stuart (who ran unopposed), Russell McCloud, Tony Reyes and Greg Ferguson appear to be returning to the board, joined by new member Russ Clark.

As of 11 p.m. Tuesday, all of the contested races showed leaders with significant margins.

In District 2, McCloud, a Republican, was beating Democrat Dan Dawson by a margin of nearly 2-to-1. This will be McCloud's third term.

He said Yuma County is in good fiscal health, the board acts as conservatively as it can and its members work cooperatively, so voters must have been pleased with how the board was operating.

“I think they recognized that Yuma County has been well-run,” he said.

One project he said he looks forward to tackling next is shortening the amount of time it takes to resolve a civil court case.

In District 3, the only race not featuring an incumbent, Clark, a Republican, was taking more than 60 percent of the vote — well ahead of Democrat Karl Koenig and independent Ginger Jane Hammack. Clark is looking at the seat being vacated by Casey Prochaska, also a Republican, who has served for 20 years.

Clark didn't plan a victory party, at least not in advance. After being confident that he had a new job come January, he sat on the patio of his Foothills home with his adult son, planning his transition. He's also already talked with County Administrator Robert Pickels on how to get up to speed on internal workings.

In the short term, Clark said he is looking forward to engaging with the community and establishing a proactive presence with the state Legislature, bringing Yuma County's unique needs to their attention. As a rural county far from the major metropolitan centers of Maricopa and Pima counties, he said, Yuma has concerns that might be overlooked, like being home to the only major hospital for some distance, water issues and the presence of military bases.

Clark said he wants to be accessible to the constituents of his sprawling district and to help them understand how their government works.

Even though he's not an incumbent, he's not an unknown. As a longtime local radio commentator, he's spent years sharing his ideas on government.

“It's one thing to talk about it, it's another to put them into practice, in real life,” he said.

In District 4, Democrat Reyes had more than 60 percent of the vote to probably beat Republican David Lara. Reyes has served on the board since 1998.

In District 5, with 55 percent of the vote in a four-way race, Republican Ferguson was comfortably holding off Democrat David Lerma and independents Gary Wright and Mike Caltabiano. Ferguson was first elected to the board in 1998 for a two-year term, then returned in 2004 and has been a supervisor since.

Hillary Davis can be reached at hdavis@yumasun.com or 539-6857. Find her on Facebook at Facebook.com/YSHillaryDavis or on Twitter at @YSHillaryDavis.