ENTERPRISE — A race for an open seat on the Wallowa County Board of Commissioners is the biggest local contested race voters will decide in the Nov. 5 general election, but Enterprise voters also will have to choose between three candidates running for mayor.

Those are the only two local contested races on the November ballot, according to a list provided Tuesday, Sept. 3 by County Clerk Sandy Lathrop. Voters will not be asked to decide any local ballot measures in November, although the ballot features five statewide measures.

Lisa Collier and Devin Patton are running for the open county commission seat currently held by Todd Nash. Nash is stepping down in order to run for the Legislature and won the Republican nomination for the Senate District 29 seat held by the retiring Bill Hansell.

Collier and Patton were the top two vote-getters in a five-candidate field in the May primary.

Patton is an agriculture derivatives broker, risk management and marketing consultant and a custom grazier. Collier is an educator and current mayor of Joseph.

The only other contested race in the county has three people vying for the position of Enterprise mayor. Former Mayor Ashley Sullivan resigned in May and Council President Jeff Yanke has served as mayor pro-tem since then. Yanke decided to run for reelection to his Councilor No. 5 position instead of seeking the Enterprise mayor post.

Running for mayor are Stirling Webb, Cody Lathrop and Daniel P. Sticka.

Rick Freeman is seeking reelection to the Councilor No. 6 post on the Enterprise council. Jim Dickenson is running for Councilor No. 4, the position currently held by Brandon Miller, who is not seeking reelection.

In Joseph, with Mayor Collier stepping down to run for the county commission, Councilor Stephen Bartlow is the only candidate who has filed to succeed her. Councilors Mary Smith and John Dundas have filed for reelection to the council and are unopposed. No one has filed for the council position Bartlow will be leaving.  

In Wallowa, Mayor Gary Hulse is running for reelection and incumbent councilors Scott McCrae and Stacey James are unopposed.

In Lostine, Mayor Dusty Tippet is running for reelection and Danny Wallace is running for Council Position No. 4.

Sheriff Ryan Moody is unopposed on the general election ballot.

The November ballot also will feature candidates running unopposed for positions on the Soil and Water Conservation District board of directors. Kevin Melville will run for the at-large position, while incumbent Melvin Stonebrink is running for the Zone 1 position, Dan Warnock for Zone 2, Alan Klages for Zone 3 and Rawley Bigsby for Zone 4.