Klejka wins Bethel's fourth council seat by 15 votes after canvass

Bethel's canvass board certified a vote count Oct. 8 giving Joseph Klejka the last of four city council seats by 15 votes over Lillian Okpaleke, 165 to 150.

The council is scheduled to certify the results and swear in new members at 6:30 pm Tuesday at City Hall, as Alaska News reported Oct. 8.

On the two precinct counts alone, Klejka led Okpaleke 149 to 126. Absentee, early, special needs and questioned ballots then gave Okpaleke 24 votes and Klejka 16.

The city's 2026 municipal election calendar set 5 pm Tuesday as the deadline for a candidate or 10 voters to contest the election. Oct. 23 is the last day for a recount, which comes 10 days after an application is submitted.

Rose "Sugar" Henderson led with 201 votes, Pamela Conrad drew 195 and Alicia Miner 181. All three return to the council. Council Member Greg Schiedler, with 73, is the one incumbent not returned. Write-ins took 39.

The certifying resolution counts 281 ballots from 4,017 registered voters, a turnout of about 7%.

The resolution, introduced by Mayor Henderson, has conflicting language on Klejka's term. It says four two-year seats were up for election and certifies Henderson, Conrad and Miner to two-year terms ending October 2028. Then it says, "Klejka, Joseph was elected to a one-year term ending October 2028." The city's notice of election listed four two-year seats, and city code sets a councilmember's term at two years. A one-year term would not end in 2028.

Last year's election did include a one-year seat. That year's resolution elected Schiedler, a write-in who finished fourth, to a one-year term ending October 2026.

City code set the new council's meeting to choose a mayor for the first Monday after certification. This year that is Oct. 19, when the city observes Alaska Day. On Sept. 22 the council voted 7 to 0 to move such a meeting to the following Tuesday.

That special meeting is set for 6 pm Oct. 20. "The Council Members will elect the Mayor by secret ballot for a term of one year," City Clerk Kevin Morgan wrote in his report. The council will also choose a vice mayor and make committee appointments. Under city code, the mayor may serve only while a member of the council.