– T.L. Petersen

– The Observer

"My mom ran into my bedroom at 5 a.m. yelling, ‘You won!’ " an excited Kyle Corbin said this morning.

Corbin’s mother was telling her son that he had done the near-impossible.

Running a write-in campaign, Corbin was, just five weeks after his 18th birthday, elected mayor of Union, though the results are still unofficial.

No one was quite sure this morning, including the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office, but the victory may make Corbin the youngest mayor in Oregon history.

And the sheer fact that he defeated, by write-in, both a current and a former city councilor whose names were on the ballot surprised many.

According to unofficial election results posted at 4:34 a.m. today by the Union County Clerk’s office, write-in candidates in Union which may have included others than just Corbin collected 415 votes. Clerk Nellie Bogue-Hibbert said the write-in votes will be tallied Thursday.

Councilor Scott Morrison received 271 votes and former councilor Dick Middleton earned 200 votes for mayor.

"I’m very pleased," Corbin said as he prepared for morning classes at Eastern Oregon University, where he is a freshman studying political science. He’s hoping to get out this afternoon to thank Union voters for their support.

But Corbin is cautious in his excitement. There’s a lot to do ahead of his Jan. 2 swearing in.

Mayor Willard Bertrand had endorsed Corbin’s campaign and was pleased with the results. He was also pleased when he realized the new shape of the city council. Pat Lang appears to have defeated William Lindsley for Position 2, Eileen Bowles was chosen over Earl Graham for Position 6, and former mayor and councilor Sue Briggs was elected.

They will join Dick Walker, Betty Bronson and Arlie Gordon on the six-member council in January.

"I’m absolutely surprised by the number of votes cast," Corbin said, adding a groan at the thought of what he may face in his classes today.

Corbin’s campaign, along with three city ballot measures, appeared to get Union voters to the polls.

According to County Clerk Nellie Bogue Hibbert who was herself elected to the Union County Board of Commissioners Tuesday night 1,266 registered voters received ballots in the city of Union. With 956 ballots accepted at the clerk’s office, initial calculations are that 75.5 percent of those eligible to vote in Union did so.

Corbin had intended to run as a regular candidate in Union this year, but the calendar and wording in the city’s charter worked against him.

While state law permits an 18-year-old elected official, the city charter says that candidates, at the filing deadline in early September, must be "qualified electors" within Union. The difference, since Corbin wasn’t old enough to vote by the filing deadline, caused him to run as a write-in.

A new mayor and council may be just the beginning of changes in Union.

Union voters approved by a vote of 641 to 289 a city charter limitation requiring that water and sewer receipts be used only for water and sewer improvement projects.

Two other charter changes were defeated. One limited how much of the general fund can be spent on city employee compensation. The other reduced how often the entire wording of a proposed city ordinance has to be read.

"That’s OK," Bertrand said.

The ordinance reading, he said, was a matter of "housekeeping," designed to limit how much time is needed to be spent in council meetings reading proposed ordinances.

The approved water and sewer revenues change, though, Bertrand said, is going to make dealing with the Union budget a new experience for the mayor and council.

Union, he says, will probably "have a friendly council with little money."

He points out that Union residents pay only $1.57 per $1,000 of property value, a figure he says is only about one-third what he pays on property he owns in La Grande.

The approved charter amendment will mean that city councils in Union won’t be able to "borrow" from water and sewer revenues to pay for other services, including police, fire, roads or ambulance needs.

"It will stabilize the city’s utilities," Bertrand said, "but it will expose the absolute lack of general fund revenues facing the city.

"In the past, the council has just siphoned off water and sewer revenues to make the budget work. And that leaves no pool of income for water and sewer projects."

Bertrand paused. "It’s gonna be a big problem."

Then the mayor chuckled. He’s thinking about the results of the mayor’s race again.

"I would turn the reins over today if I could. I’m glad he’s got it."