Castle Rock Librarian Vicki Selander danced among her books Thursday afternoon upon learning the library’s levy appears to have passed.

“Oh Wow!,” Selander exclaimed and then gave a big sigh of relief. “Super! I’m a happy camper.”

New results Thursday afternoon showed the levy had 62.3 percent approval, or 342 yes votes to 207 no votes. The levy needs at least 60 percent to pass and was just below that figure with initial results Tuesday night.

The results aren’t official until Sept. 2 and a handful more ballots may still be counted, but it appears the library won’t close its books or doors anytime soon.

All verified and received ballots have been counted. There are 40 suspended ballots that need signatures or other verifications. But even if all of the 40 suspended ballots are from Castle Rock — some could be Kelso School District ballots — 29 would have to be no votes to sink the levy. So levy failure is unlikely at this point.

A few mailed ballots also may trickle in. But of the 21 ballots the elections office received in the mail Thursday, 14 had late postmarks and are not valid. It’s doubtful a significant number of valid ballots will come in by Sept. 2, said Cowlitz County Elections Supervisor Carolyn Myers. Results won’t be updated again until Sept. 1.

The $42,079 Castle Rock library levy will cost the owner of a $150,000 home $75 a year. It provides the annual funding for the library and without it the library faced closure. The library has existed on donations since a November levy failed. Even if Tuesday’s levy passes, the library still needs about $8,000 to keep operating until the first 2010 tax payments are received in April, Selander said.

Other election results did not change significantly with Thursday’s results. The Castle Rock City Council Position 2 seat remains too close to call, though it’s unlikely that there are enough remaining ballots to change the outcome.

Glenn Pingree continues to hold a strong first place lead with 254 votes and 52 percent. Buck Savage remains in second with 119 votes, or 25 percent. Just 17 votes behind, though, is Mark Accimus with 21 percent of the vote. The positions haven’t changed since election night, but the vote difference between second and third shrank from an initial 23-vote gap.

The top two votegetters move on to the general election in November.

Ray Teter and Howard Mason remained in first and second place for the Position 1 seat in on the Castle Rock City Council, with Charles Jones a distant third.

The city’s $250,000 police levy also continued to fail miserably, with just 27 percent approval. The levy also needs a 60 percent supermajority to pass.

In the Kelso School District race, Joan Tolby remained in a strong first place with Jeff Hart in second and Gregory Salata trailing well behind in third.