The race for Riverton's District 5 seat was too close to call after polls closed on Nov. 6. Candidate Galen Mills clung to a three-vote lead, according to Salt Lake County's unofficial results.

But an official tally released Tuesday night, including absentee, provisional and early votes, turned those results around, handing Brinkerhoff an 11-vote edge.

He squeaked in to fill the seat that his wife, Gayla Brinkerhoff, will leave at the year's end.

Randy Brinkerhoff, a member of the Jordan School District's Board of Education, was at a board meeting Tuesday night and unavailable for comment. But Mills called his competitor "a good man and a personal friend" and added that "Randy will do a good job."

Mayor Bill Applegarth said the race was Riverton's closest decision since he moved to the south Salt Lake County suburb in November 1975. That year, he said, a race finished in a tie - a coin toss determined the winner.

"This has really been exciting. It shows the importance of every single vote," Applegarth said Tuesday. "Both of these gentlemen are great men. I appreciate both of them, and I appreciate the system we live under."

About 41 percent of registered District 5 voters cast ballots in the election. In other districts, residents re-elected council members Roy Tingey, who held off Sheldon Stewart, and Karma Bentson, who ran unopposed.

sgehrke@sltrib.com