For the fourth time, Missoula voters have chosen John Engen as their mayor.

Enough of the mail-in ballots have been counted to confirm that Engen easily won the election over political newcomer Lisa Triepke. As of 10:00 p.m. Engen had over 56 percent of the votes, with his challenger Lisa Triepke at a little over 42 percent.

At his post-election victory celebration at The Public House, Engen said he was gratified that the voters chose to return him to office.

“I’m excited to be able to continue to do this job I love in the place I love,” Engen said. ‘We got to talk about a lot of issues and I learned a lot, and we’ve got some work to do. We committed to housing early on and we’re still committed to housing and affordability. We heard a lot about property taxes this cycle and we need to figure that out. It’s not easy, there are no simple solutions, but I heard it loud and clear, and we’ve got a job to do.”

2017 has been a tumultuous year for Engen, with the culmination of a three year effort to gain control of Missoula's water system, formerly Mountain Water Company, and now Missoula Water..

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