Spring Park, where you can count on a recount

In the latest, City Council hopeful Norina Dove picked up a vote to win by five.

By HERÓN MÁRQUEZ ESTRADA, Star Tribune

Last update: November 17, 2008 - 11:09 PM

When four candidates ran for two open City Council seats in the tiny Lake Minnetonka community of Spring Park, no one was surprised when a recount was required.

Recounts are almost a way of life in this community of 1,700 residents.

"The city of Spring Park, notoriously, almost always has a recount," said acting City Clerk Wendy Lewin. "It's become urban legend, in a way."

Four years ago, a City Council race, even after a recount, ended in a tie. The winner was decided by a coin flip.

Two years ago, the mayor's race ended with the incumbent ahead by three votes. The margin was eventually cut to two after a recount.

And this year, only four votes separated two candidates for a council seat.

The latest recount was held Monday at City Hall. Norina Dove, who had 320 votes on Election Day to Doug Sippel's 316, remained on top. After picking up one vote, she was declared the victor by five ballots over Sippel, who had asked for the recount.

Lewin said she doesn't have a good explanation as to why Spring Park has so many close elections. But she said that's a topic of discussion around City Hall. "The vote has always been so close," she said. "It's said that the city of Spring Park can almost always count on a recount."

In 2004, a coin flip cost Tom Scanlon a seat on the City Council when he and Gary Hughes were tied after the recount. Hughes won the coin flip, but Scanlon was elected in 2006 to a council seat.

This year, both men ran unsuccessfully for mayor, with Scanlon coming in second to Sarah Reinhardt, who won by 34 votes. Hughes was third.

Reinhardt will replace Mayor Jerry Rockvam, who decided not to seek reelection after 35 years in office. But that streak was almost broken in 2006, when Rockvam found himself in a recount with Gary DeRusha, whom he initially beat by three votes.

Rockvam lost one vote but still won the recount, getting to keep his job by the razor-thin margin of two ballots. It was the second time in a decade or so that the mayor had landed in a recount.

Said Rockvam: "I'm just glad to see that people are so interested in politics in Spring Park."

Heron Marquez Estrada • 612-673-4280

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