Council, school board get new faces

Both the Green River City Council and the Sweetwater County School District No. 2 Board of Trustees will have some new blood coming in.

While Mayor Pete Rust and Councilman Gary Killpack will receive another term in office, Jim Zimmerman and Michael Shutran will join the Council in January. For the school board, Ashley Castillon will join Rachelle Morris and incumbent Robin Steiss in December.

Rust defeated challenger Mark Peterson by 1,700 votes, receiving 2,771 votes to Peterson’s 1,077. In Ward I, Zimmerman was originally projected to lose to his opponent Sherry Bushman before absentee ballots were factored in, but defeated Bushman in the end.

Zimmerman received 695 votes to Bushman’s 667. Shutran defeated Andrew Morrison in Ward II, earning 627 votes to Morrison’s 233. Killpack defeated Ed Paisley in Ward III, earning 897 votes to Paisley’s 446.

Zimmerman said he plans to attend council meetings for the remainder of the year to allow him to learn how the city government operates, saying the process is different than in use by Sweetwater County. Zimmerman said he did not attend meetings previously to give himself more time to walk the ward.

Castillon led the school board candidates by receiving 2,230 votes. Steiss earned 1,456 and Morris earned 1,417.

Incumbent John Malone received 1,059 votes, with David Munoz earning 1,040, Elonna Owens receiving 1,094, Daniel Stanton earning 1,030 and Don Adams taking 573 votes.