Three vie for two open seats on Peck City Council

It’s not uncommon for Peck City Council candidates to run unopposed or for seats to go unfilled.

But this fall is different. Three people, including two first-timers, are running to fill two open seats.

Scott Greene is the incumbent and has lived in Peck most of his life. Deanna Walker has lived in Peck for two decades and John LeNeve moved to Peck from Turkey earlier this year.

Peck, one of Nez Perce County’s smallest towns, has only about 160 residents. It sits along Big Canyon Creek off U.S. Highway 12 west of Orofino.

Greene, who is married to Mayor Nancy Greene, said the council is doing its best to keep the town chugging along despite its small tax base. He noted the city will have a full council following the election, something it doesn’t have at present.

“If anybody is missing, we don’t have a quorum,” he said.

Greene said he’d like to see the town spruce up a bit and make progress on its water system as well as upgrade culverts that are prone to being overwhelmed during heavy rainstorms. He noted a lot of people say the town should get grants to fix its infrastructure but he noted it can be tough to do so.

“We can’t even afford to have a feasibility study done,” he said. “That costs $100,000 and we don’t have that kind of money.”

His folks moved to Peck when he was just 2.

“The furthest I got away was Wells Bench,” he said. “We moved back in 1991. It’s a nice little piece of heaven.”

Deanna Walker said she recently paid off her home in Peck’s downtown. Now that she is a full-blown property owner, she said it’s time to give back.

“I thought, heck, If I can help out, I better throw my hat in the ring,” she said. “Whatever I can do to help out.”

The retired Forest Service worker would like to see the city tidy up the property it owns.

“If I could help them come up with a way to clean up the city property and keep people from just parking their old broken-down rigs on it, that is one thing I could get behind.” she said.

LeNeve used to split time between a home on the Aegean Sea in Turkey and one in Arizona. Earlier this year, he and his wife became ill while returning from Turkey.

“Three weeks later I was getting over it and my wife died,” he said. “I hit the hard reset button. I have some family in Orofino and I just decided to move.”

LeNeve said he is looking for new purpose in life and quickly bonded with locals when he moved to Peck five months ago.

“When I bought a house in Peck, I said ‘one thing I’m going to do is do what I can to help the small town survive. Peck has some serious financial problems. I have come to learn it’s being managed but with only 160 people, it’s hard to maintain a city.”

LeNeve studied chemistry in college and after graduating went to work in a family painting business in California. He retired at 49 and moved to Arizona. He and his late wife traveled frequently and fell in love with Turkey.

In the fall of 2016, when polls indicated Hillary Clinton would be the next U.S. president LeNeve bought a house there.

“I was one of those people who said if she wins I’m going to move,” he said.

He explained it takes a while to move and he and his wife started the process before election day. Even though Donald Trump beat Clinton, they stayed in Turkey. He returned for a visit last month with the idea of selling the house.

“Now that I’m here, I can’t sell the place,” he said via telephone from Turkey. “I can see Greek islands from my house. It’s right on the western Aegean. What can you do? It’s one of the most beautiful places in the world.”

But he said Peck and the surrounding area are beautiful as well.

“Being retired, I just want to contribute something to the community. I love the area and I love the people in the area.”

Barker may be contacted at ebarker@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2273. Follow him on Twitter @ezebarker.