Sean C. Morgan
Michael E. Adams will succeed John Fassler, representing Foster on the District 55 School Board.
Adams received 1,017 votes, 69.47 percent, while Fassler received 333 votes, 22.75. One hundred eight voters cast no vote on the race.
Fassler will complete a four-year term in June. Adams, an attorney, will take office in July.
Kevin Burger received 1,204 votes for the uncontested Cascadia position. Burger served eight years on the board in the 1990s, leaving the board around 2001, soon after Supt. Larry Horton went to work for the district.
Incumbent David VanDerlip won the uncontested Crawfordsville with 1,161 votes. Incumbent Mike Reynolds received 1,239 votes in the uncontested Sweet Home position.
“I’m feeling very thankful, and I’m very blessed by it,” Adams said. “The next morning after the election, John Fassler called me and congratulated me. It shows that he has good character. I thanked him for serving in the capacity as I hope somebody will do for me some time. I do sincerely want to thank John.
“I’m very excited. It’s a new road for me, and it’s something I’ve thought about doing in the past. I want to move forward and try to understand the issues and make the best decision I can for kids.”
Fassler wasn’t surprised by the loss, he said. He doesn’t have a long history in Sweet Home, and Sweet Home has two Mike Adamses, which improves name recognition.
“It was not a huge surprise,” he said, but he was surprised by the spread.
He isn’t planning to run for the board again, Fassler said, but he will miss it.
“The things I enjoyed was being able to talk and meet with parents, students, teachers, everybody. I really enjoyed talking with people, finding out their thoughts and aspirations.”
The loss has an upside, Fassler said. He will have more time to spend with his family, although he would be willing to serve in an appointed position that doesn’t entail the same time commitment as the School Board.
In four years, “I thought I would do a lot more things,” Fassler said, but resources are limited.
During his term, he said, he was proud of helping the district get fiber optics to every school.
He said he kind of “guilted” CenturyLink, his employer, into doing things at no cost or low cost.
As a member of the district’s negotiating team with classified employees, he was also happy to report that the district and union had reached a tentative agreement last week.
As Adams takes office the budget situation throughout the state is generally in horrible condition, and that’s not going to improve, Adams said. He is working on understanding the details of the budget and coming up with suggestions for improvements.
The budget problems have led the district to cut its pool expenditures, and saving the pool is important to Adams.
“One issue as a community that we need to resolve in the future is the long-term viability, continuing the pool into the future,” Adams said. “The School District has already indicated willingness to kind of plug the hole in the near future.”
Many elderly people and members of the community use the pool, he said. Pool programs also teach children to swim.
“I think it’s important to teach kids to swim,” Adams said. “Hopefully, moving forward, people will support forming an aquatics district.”
Burger said he left the board because of his work schedule.
“It’s more stable now plus I enjoyed being on the board,” Burger said. “It was fun. Every now and then you could actually make a difference.”
He also is concerned about the budget.
“Larry (Horton) has had to do what he’s had to do,” Burger said. “It’s pretty nasty, but you only get so much budget to use. I’m pretty sentimental about Crawfordsville. I would’ve voted to keep it open.”
Burger moved to the district in junior high and graduated from Sweet Home High School in 1976.
He is married to Jeanie Burger, and they have two sons, Lonnie Horner and Amos Burger. Burger has worked for Weyerhaeuser Santiam Mill for 11 years. Previously, he worked at Triple T Studs for 13 years. He attended college at San Diego Community College and served four years in the Navy. He was a petty officer third class when he was discharged.
In other elections, all uncontested, Tim Geil retained his seat on the board of the Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance District with 1,255 votes along with Elmer Riemer with 1,278 votes and Larry G. Johnson with 1,260 votes.
John T. Hyer was re-elected to the Sweet Home Cemetery District board with 1,050 votes.