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Backlund upsets Tracy, Beck wins big in Mitchell City Council races

Doug Backlund pulled off an upset Tuesday in the Ward 1 Mitchell City Council race, and Geri Beck scored a landslide win in Ward 4. Backlund upset Ken Tracy, the City Council president and the longest tenured of the current council members. Backl...

Doug Backlund pulled off an upset Tuesday in the Ward 1 Mitchell City Council race, and Geri Beck scored a landslide win in Ward 4.

Backlund upset Ken Tracy, the City Council president and the longest tenured of the current council members. Backlund garnered 435 votes, or 58 percent, while Tracy received 318 votes, or 42 percent.

At 23, Backlund may be the youngest-ever member of the council. That distinction was believed to be previously held by Allen Lepke, who was elected in 2003 at age 26 and is still serving on the council.

The Daily Republic was not able to reach Backlund for an interview Tuesday evening.

Tracy leaves the council having never won an election. He was appointed by then-Mayor Alice Claggett to fill a vacant seat in 2000 and never faced opposition until this year.

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Tracy said late Tuesday evening that he had congratulated Backlund by phone.

"It's kind of disappointing," Tracy said, "but the voters have spoken."

In Ward 4, Beck, 39, will become the first woman to serve on the eight-member City Council since April 2006, when Bev Robinson resigned her seat.

Beck raked in 590 votes, or 71 percent, to trounce three opponents in a Ward 4 race with no incumbent. Bill Kinder received 84 votes (10 percent), Tony Cole received 79 votes (10 percent) and Adam Elder received 74 votes (9 percent).

"It feels like hard work, at the end of the day, pays off," Beck, the Avera Queen of Peace Foundation director, said Tuesday evening.

Beck said her first order of business will be to listen and learn, but she warned that she'd heard a lot of Ward 4 voters express opposition to expanding the Corn Palace.

"So I'd say right now that my bias coming in is that we shouldn't be renovating the Palace," Beck said, "but I will keep an open mind."

Meanwhile, Tracy, a 61-year-old retiree, said he does not know whether he will seek any other elected offices in the future. His proudest achievement during his time on the council, he said, was his contribution to Mitchell's connection to the B-Y Pipeline.

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The $17 million pipeline project, completed in 2003, replaced the foul-smelling water from Lake Mitchell with water from the Missouri River and vastly increased the city water system's capacity.

"I thought I had something to offer yet for the council and for the city," Tracy said. "But it's nice to see some young blood get involved. They are the future of our city, so I wish Doug well and I think he'll do a good job."

The new council members will serve three-year terms and will be sworn in at the July 7 City Council meeting.

Voter turnout numbers in each ward were not immediately available. The county auditor's office said countywide turnout was 31 percent, but that percentage may be misleading because it appeared to be based on the total number of registered voters in the county. Residents not impacted by a local race and not registered as a Democrat or Republican had nothing to vote on.

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