Though it shed all its incumbent elected officials two months ago in the fallout of what could become the second largest public bond default in state history, five open commissioners’ seats in the Holmes Harbor Sewer District were set to be won without an electoral shot fired next Tuesday. But that was before one unlikely, but experienced candidate jumped into the race this week.

In an advertisement in the Oct. 27 edition of The South Whidbey Record, Holmes Harbor resident Bob Randolph, 63, announced he is running a write-in candidacy against sewer board appointee Don La-Montagne, 60. A one-time commissioner in the district until he resigned in 1999 in a dispute over what turned out to be an illegal $20 million bond sale, Randolph said this week he wants back onto the body to push for an efficient, effective solution to the legal and financial crisis the bond sale has caused.

Five commissioners were appointed to the sewer board in August after four sitting commissioners resigned their offices. Four of those appointees — Meg Wingard, Susie Yeilding, Jim Grevais, and Stan Walker — are running unopposed. Randolph said Wednesday he decided to start a write-in candidacy against LaMontagne after observing him at a number of recent district board meetings. Citing what he perceives to be LaMontagne’s “dissension for the sake of dissension” on the board and “apparent sympathies” for the former commissioners who approved the bond sale, Randolph said he is a better choice for the job.

“I strongly believe that this is not the time to have the board’s productivity and problem-solving capabilities reduced by ego issues and behavior which is not conducive to a 100 percent effort,” Randolph wrote in response to questions Wednesday.

LaMontagne, whose name will be alone in the Position 5 commissioner’s slot on Tuesday’s ballot, had his own thoughts Thursday on his contributions to the district’s recent actions. He said the district’s former commissioners — Don Cardner, Heather Houlihan, Linda Zoll, Don Wills, and Bill Spalding — were misled by attorneys when they decided to sell the bonds in October 2000. He said he respects them because he believes they were working in the best interests of district property owners.

“I admire the people who served before me,” he said.

LaMontagne has been the lone dissenting voice on the sewer board on a number of issues, including the selection of a law firm to represent the district and the question over whether to discharge the district’s previous counsel, Charles Tull. He defended his opinions by noting the previous board fell into the trap of blindly following the lead of its president, Bill Spalding. The new board members need to think more independently, he said, and have “good, lively debate.”

At the moment, the biggest issue the district faces is a financial one. A state audit spawned by the bond sale cost district ratepayers more than $60,000, while an apparent accounting error made in the original financing of the district’s sewer plant could cost them at least $100,000 more. The district is also on the wrong end of a $20 million lawsuit filed by bond investors in October. Meanwhile, the district’s legal fees are $5,000 a month.

Expressing only lukewarm confidence in his fellow commissioners, whom he called “well meaning,” LaMontagne said the district will come out of its crisis whole if board members are willing to put time and work into solving its various problems.

“The challenge we have here is not insurmountable,” he said.

Saying the district’s financial salvation lies not with the efforts of individual commissioners but with the board as a group, Randolph said the “synergistic energy” several commissioners developed while working as part of a community group in July is the key to productivity and good decision-making.

“I will work effectively with the other commissioners as we move toward resolution of the challenging issues facing us,” he said.

Randolph has lived on Whidbey Island since 1941 and has owned a home in the sewer district for 18 years. LaMontagne has owned property in the district since 1998.

Voters in the Holmes Harbor Sewer District will vote by mail this year. Anyone who wants to cast a vote for Randolph will have to write his name onto a blank on the ballot. LaMontagne supporters need only check a box next to his name.