 CITY, SCHOOL BOARDS, AND COUNTY BOARDS - APRIL 2019 ELECTION
Voters Choose Kelly for
Mayor, but Say No to the School Operating Levy Increase
By Angie Talken, CT 04 04 19
Livingston County voters chose not to pass an operating levy for the Chillicothe R-II School District while Chillicothe voters chose Theresa (Gatson) Kelly as their
new mayor in today's elections. Cheers could be heard from a group of supporters when all the ballots were counted and posted showing Theresa (Gatson) Kelly had been elected as the next mayor of Chillicothe with 56.85 percent of the voters. She defeated current Mayor Reed Dupy who has held the position for just over a year. Dupy earn 595 votes or 40.75 percent. Kelly earned 830 votes.
Voters were asked to approve an
operating levy for the Chillicothe R-II School District. The district was asking to increase the operating levy to help cover the rising costs of transportation and to be able to increase teachers salaries and continue capital improvements. Before voting Superintendent Roger Barnes said cuts would have to be made and the school’s reserve fund would have to be used to cover the rising costs and underpayment of funds from the state. Voters defeated the issue with 1,328 votes being cast to not increase the levy and 951
"yes" votes. It only took a simple majority to pass or defeat the measure.
Sherry Parks, Livingston County Clerk and Election Authority, said for any time to get on the August 6 ballot it would have to be filed with her office by May 28. She said this is an off
year with no primaries, and currently there is nothing filed for a Livingston County ballot in August.
Tuesday's elections also included voting
three new members onto the Chillicothe R-II School Board.
Those new members will also have a hand in deciding whether or not to take the operating levy back to voters. There were two open seats for a three-year term on Chillicothe R-II School
Board - Bill Hayen received 1,338 votes and Clint B Williams received 836 votes. Ricky A.
Baker was defeated with 825 votes and Carrie Pfeifer with 534 votes. Voters chose Brice Walker for the one-year term with 1,566 votes to Gene Moyer
365. New school board members will be sworn in at the Chillicothe R-II meeting on April 16.
Roze Frampton ran unopposed for the position of
city clerk and will continue to represent the city in that
capacity as she has done since being elected in 1999. Current Assistant City Auditor Hannah Fletcher ran unopposed for the position of city
auditor. She has served as assistant city auditor for a year, working closely with Mayor-Elect Kelly.
Tom Ashbrook also ran unopposed for another term as
councilman at large and Wayne Cunningham was unopposed in his race for
Second Ward councilman. Pam Jarding is once again the Fourth Ward councilperson after having been appointed to the council earlier this year and running unopposed in her
election. Incumbent Dennis Albertson, Jr., was once again elected
First Ward City councilman with 431 votes. His opponent Adam Brown, currently services on the
city's Board of Adjustments. Brown received 148 votes. Michael Smith beat out two other candidates for the office of
Third Ward councilman. Smith earned 78 votes while Buell Applebury received 62 and John E.
Plaster 32 votes. City officials will be sworn into office at 12
p.m. on April 10 at City Hall.
On April 2, Livingston County voters also decided on a variety of issues within smaller townships and for county-wide seats.
There were two open seats on the
Livingston County Health Center Board and voters chose Harry
Lockridge with 1,350 votes and Alvina Ann Benskin with 1, 261; defeating Shannon Jordan with 819 votes. There were eight ballots cast with write-ins. Jordan was a first-time candidate for the position. Both Benskin and Lockridge have held their seats on the board for decades.
Three candidates ran for two seats on the
Board of Education for the Livingston County R-I School
Board. Bryce Anderson earned 126 votes; Clint Gilliland, 116;
and Stanton Warren received 77 votes.
Townships: Jamie L. Reeter was elected trustee for Jackson Township; David Beck for Rich Hill Township. Shannon Jones was named trustee for Blue Mound; and Brian Bowman was elected trustee for Chillicothe Township. Chad Crawford defeated Rita Jacobs with a vote of 33-3 for the position of trustee of Medicine Township. Jim Gates and Ron Hughes beat out David Brown for a position as a board member with Chillicothe Township. Austin Campbell received 36 votes; Clinton Campbell 34 votes for the position of board member of Medicine Township. They defeated Deans Jacobs and Ronald Eckert who each received two votes. Jackson Township voted
"yes" with 44 ballots to 33 to pass the road question.
Roads: In Blue Mound, voters passed their road question by a vote of 47-33. And in Medicine Township the road question also passed with a vote of 2414. However, Rich Hill defeated the road question with a vote of 67-54.
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CT, January 17, 2019
By Angie Talken
Filing for the April ballot for local elections ended at 5
p.m. on January 15. While some of the seats have several candidates, there are others with no one having filed for the seat. The April 2 ballot will feature all elected seats for the City of Chillicothe, including mayor, city clerk, city auditor, councilman at large and all four city council seats. Voters will also find city treasurer, city attorney and city constable on the ballot, however, those offices have no duties.
As of 5 p.m., January 15, the following Chillicothe residents had filed to run for
office:
- For the office of mayor, Incumbent Reed Dupy and Theresa (Gatson) Kelly had filed.
- Incumbent Rozanne (Roze) Frampton is running unopposed for another term as city clerk.
- Hannah Fletcher, assistant city auditor, filed to run for the office of city auditor after Kathy Gilliland withdrew her candidacy just 47 minutes before the filing deadline. Current city auditor, Theresa Kelly is retiring.
- Chillicothe Police Chief Jon Maples has filed to run for the office of city constable.
- There is no one registered to run for the offices of city treasurer or city attorney.
- Tom Ashbrook currently serves as the
city's councilman at large, and he re-filed for that office and faces no opposition.
- Dennis (Denny) Albertson Jr., filed to continue serving as the 1st ward councilman and now faces Adam Brown in a race for the 1st ward seat.
- Wayne Cunningham faces no opposition for his seat as 2nd ward councilman.
- John E. Plaster, Jr., Buell Applebury and Michael Smith are all hoping to take retiring Tom
Douglas' seat as 3rd ward councilman.
- Pam Jarding is the only candidate for 4th ward councilman. She was recently appointed to finish out the term of Paul
Howard who resigned at the beginning of the year due to health issues.
Howard's term was to end in April.
- Filings for Chillicothe RII School Board for a three year term include: Bill Hayen, Carrie Pfeifer, Clint B. Williams, and Ricky A. Baker. There are two seats available.
- Brice Walker and Gene Moyers have filed for a one-year term, and there is one seat
available.
- In addition, there are several boards seeking members throughout the county, those include: Livingston County Water Districts and the Linn/Livingston Water District #3. The Nursing Home Board, Livingston County Health Center Board and Livingston County Ambulance District. County Fire Districts in Green, Mooresville, Hale and Grundy counties and the Township Boards also have open filing.
- There will be referendums on the ballot for the road levies for Blue Mound, Jackson, Medicine and Rich Hill Townships.
- Harry Lockridge, Alvina Ann Benskin and Shannon Jordan have filed to run for the Livingston County Health Center Board.
- Richard B. Smith and Ronald Beetsma
are running for seats on the Livingston County Ambulance District Board.
C-T,
December 14, 2018
By Angie Talken
On Tuesday, filing for elected city offices, local school boards and several county boards began. The April 2,
2019, ballot will feature all elected seats for the City of Chillicothe, including mayor, city clerk, city auditor, councilman at large and all four city council seats. Voters will also find city treasurer, city attorney and city constable on the ballot, however, those offices have no duties.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the following Chillicothe residents had filed to run for office. For the office of mayor, incumbent Reed Dupy and Theresa (Gatson) Kelly had filed. Incumbent Rozanne (Roze) Frampton is currently the only person running for city clerk. Tom Ashbrook currently serves as the
city's councilman at large and he refiled for that office. Dennis (Denny) Albertson Jr., filed to continue serving as the 1st ward councilman; incumbent Wayne Cunningham filed for 2nd ward councilman and John E. Plaster, Jr. filed to run as 3rd ward councilman. There is currently no one registered to run for the offices of city auditor, 4th ward councilperson, constable, treasurer, or city attorney.
There are three seats open on the Chillicothe RII School Board. Two of the seats are for three-year terms, and one seat is for a one-year term. As of Wednesday, Brice Walker had filed for the one-year term; and Bill Hayen and Clint B. Williams filed for the
three-year terms. All area schools have open filing. Filing for the
Chillicothe School Board and all other school board offices should be completed at that the
school's district office.
Besides Chillicothe and the Chillicothe R-II School Board, other communities across the county also have April 2 elections for which filing has begun. In addition, there are
several boards seeking members throughout the county,
including Livingston County Water Districts and the Linn/Livingston Water District
#3, the Nursing Home Board, Livingston County Health Center Board, and Livingston County Ambulance District. County Fire Districts in Green, Mooresville, Hale and Grundy counties and, the Township Boards also have open filing. There will be referendums on the ballot for the road levies for Blue Mound, Jackson, Medicine and Rich Hill Townships. Currently, Harry Lockridge and Alvina Ann Benskin have filed to run for the Livingston County Health Center Board.
Filing for city, state, and school board offices continues now at the City
Clerk's office during normal business hours, through 5:00 pm on January 15th. Filing for each seat includes a $20 Filing Fee. |
