Four candidates seek positions on Mission council
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ST. IGNATIUS — Four candidates are seeking to fill two vacant St. Ignatius Town Council seats left by Marine Johnson and Ray Jensen. Johnson plans to re-run for her seat, and joining her will be candidates Ray Frey, John Mitchell and Roger Lemon.
Johnson joined the council in 2006 and is re-running because she feels it’s not her time to leave yet.
Johnson is originally from Boise, Idaho, but has lived in the Mission Valley for 17 years. She has two teenagers who attend St. Ignatius High School and has worked at Allard Auctions since 1998. Johnson recently received a B.A. in Communication Studies and a minor in Climate Change Studies from the University of Montana.
“I am the only woman on council and running,” Johnson said. “It’s important to have different views on the council.”
Johnson said she would like to continue supporting several recreational activities in the community and strengthening ties between different entities in the valley. Johnson said she has been working on improving communications between the city council and the community using the city’s Facebook page.
“We set up the Facebook page in order to provide more information and so residents can be more involved if they choose to be.” Johnson said. “We try to have a forum to clarify things and create a relationship between constituents and the running body.”
Frey has lived in the Mission Valley all his life. In 1990, he worked as a self-employed contractor and retired in January as the city’s public works director and water and sewer operator. Frey also served as the St. Ignatius Fire Department Chief for 11 of his 26 years with the department.
“I’m not running with any agenda,” Frey said. “I like the town and thought maybe I had some expertise to keep it in good shape.”
Frey believes that any town, no matter the size, needs to have a good infrastructure to flourish.
“We need to keep up maintenance of the city’s water, sewers and the streets,” Frey said.
Mitchell was born and raised in Mission. He has owned a cleaning business for a number of years and is a part-time police officer with the Ronan Police Department. He also works as a karaoke DJ some nights. One of the reasons Mitchell is running for council is because of his father, Wayne Mitchell, who once served as the Chief of Police in St. Ignatius.
“When he retired the only thing he got was Social Security,” Mitchell said. “Things haven’t changed. It’s still low pay … same ideas and same people year after year.”
Mitchell said he would like to improve accountability when it comes to budgets.
Improving streets, the fire department and the police department top Mitchell’s list of where money should be spent.
Cities don’t put money where it should go and especially during a bad economy, certain services need to be take care of first,” Mitchell said.
Candidate Roger Lemon was out of town and couldn’t be reached for comment by press time.
