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What if they held an election and (almost) nobody ran?

That question arose in five different races around the Valley since candidates will be taking their seats by default in December. That's because nobody filed to run against them in the Nov. 4 general election. Candidates for the Sonoma City Council, the Sonoma Valley Unified School District, the Valley of the Moon Water District, the Kenwood Fire Protection District and the Kenwood School District faced no opposition - so there will be no election.

There will be races for the Sonoma Valley Health Care District, the Valley of the Moon Fire Protection District and the Sonoma County Board of Education, Area 1. Filing closed at 5 p.m. Wednesday.

In the race that probably affects more voters in the Valley than any other, there are four candidates vying for three seats on the Sonoma Valley Health Care District board. The Sonoma Valley Health Care District oversees and operates Sonoma Valley Hospital.

The four candidates for the board are Madolyn Agrimonti, incumbent Bill Boerum, William Gurry and Peter Hohorst. Incumbents Mike Nugent and Mike Smith decided not to seek re-election. The race for the Area 1 seat on the Sonoma County Board of Education will be between incumbent John Musilli and challenger Alex Bantis.

The Valley of the Moon Fire Protection District race features three incumbents, Ray Brunton, Dawn Mittleman and William Norton, and a challenger, Elissa Wadleigh, vying for three seats.

In races where the candidates won by default, incumbent Joanne Sanders will retain her seat on the Sonoma City Council while Laurie Gallian will assume the seat that retiring council member Stanley Cohen occupies. Two other candidates took out papers for the council, but neither followed through.

Under provisions of the California Election Code, the city council can decide to cancel the election and appoint the two nominees to the two open seats, or hold the election, with the two names appearing on the ballot. The council has until Aug. 25 to make the decision and the matter will appear for consideration on the agenda of the council's Aug. 20 meeting.

City Clerk Gay Rainsbarger said canceling the election would save the city about $8,000 in election costs since the county elections department assigns municipalities a participating fee if they have ballot candidates or measures. The council contest would be the only strictly Sonoma measure on the Nov.  4 ballot.

A write-in candidate could still qualify for the election, but he or she would have to pull nomination papers, gather the required 20 signatures, and turn them in 45 days before the election.

Then citizens could write that candidate's name on the ballot, but the candidate would not be listed and would have no voter information included in the ballot booklets.

Gallian could not be reached for comment on the election outcome, but Sanders admitted, "Frankly, I'm thankful to Sonoma that I don't have to go through a campaign. It frees me up to do my job as mayor. I love being on the city council, I love being mayor, and campaigning is daunting. If it's not necessary, why would you want to do it? I'm relieved."

In the Sonoma Valley Unified School District race, only three candidates filed for the three seats. Incumbent Nicole Ducarroz will continue to represent the Dunbar attendance area, incumbent Helen Marsh will continue to represent the Prestwood attendance area while Gary DeSmet will represent the Sassarini attendance area, replacing two-term incumbent Sandra Lowe who chose not to run again.

Both incumbents, James Kempers and Fred Sand, in the Kenwood Fire Protection District retained their seats.

And the Kenwood School District is going to have to find somebody to fill a seat where no one filed. Incumbent Patricia Alexander filed to retain her seat, but no one filed for the seat now occupied by Gordon Holmes.

Kenwood School Superintendent Bob Bales said the board would appoint somebody to the soon-to-be-vacant seat. Bales said one person has expressed interest in the seat and that the board will be seeking applicants for the seat. Bales said the district will save $11,000 by not having an election.

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Editor David Bolling contributed to this report.

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