General Election results in some surprises
By Kathleen Collins, Kathleen Folkerth
and Stephanie Kist
SUMMIT/MEDINA COUNTIES — New faces will serve in the offices of Peninsula Village mayor and Council, the Richfield Township Board of Trustees and Richfield Village Council, as incumbents were defeated in the Nov. 6 General Election.
Here are results of contested races in the West Side Leader coverage area.
In Fairlawn, write-in candidate David Effler did the close to impossible by winning the City Council Ward 6 race. He defeated challenger Caroline Davis. “It’s very rare when a write-in wins,” said Bryan Williams, director of the Summit County Board of Elections. “I can’t tell you the last time that happened in Summit County.”
Williams said overall the election went smoothly, despite some problems with some scanners the morning of election day.
“Some ballots in some precincts some of the time didn’t feed,” said Williams. “We think it may have to do with the quality of paper the printer used, and we’ll have to explore that.”
According to Williams, countywide voter turnout was about 32 percent. “We knew it was probably going to be under 40 percent,” he said. “There were some hot pockets of high voter turnout in some areas because of mayoral races.”
In Medina County, voter turnout
was about 30 percent, according to Susan Strasser, director
of the Medina County Board of
Elections.
Akron
West Akron’s slate of
City Council members will remain the same, with four
Democratic incumbents all holding on to their seats
for the next two years.
In Ward 8, incumbent Democrat
Bob Keith faced a grassroots challenge from Republican
Randy Cole, who has said he’d spent the months
leading up to the election knocking on thousands of
doors in the ward and talking to residents.
Keith was the victor, with 54
percent to Cole’s 46 percent. Keith said Cole
gave him a run for his money.
“It was a real good race,
both sides,” he said. “It didn’t get
ugly.
“I intend to work just
as hard as I did the last two years,” he added,
saying his priorities will be to work on the Copley
Road Soccer Complex, help residents of Parkway Estates
improve housing, and address density issues in the Treeside
and Dominion drives area.
Cole said he would like to sit
down with Keith to share some of the issues and ideas
he was made aware of during his campaign as he talked
to residents in the ward.
“I really felt that I
needed to know what was happening house by house and
street by street in the neighborhoods
to effectively represent the ward,” he said.
Cole said the residents he talked
to apparently aren’t the voters who turned out
for the election. However, he said he is grateful to
supporters and volunteers who helped his campaign.
Keith said he didn’t let
his incumbency give him an overabundance of confidence.
“You always run scared,”
he said. “If you don’t run scared, you get
beat.”
City Council Ward 4 incumbent
Reneé Greene, a Democrat, earned 71 percent of
the vote to defeat Republican Cedric Colvin, who earned
29 percent.
“I would like to certainly
thank all of my constituents for their support and confidence
in my leadership, as well as my volunteers that worked
very hard to bring us to this victory,” Greene
said.
She said she is looking forward
to working with young people in the ward, finding ways
to revitalize housing and improve the quality of life
for residents.
“We’re working it,
because we do have some people out there who share my
sentiment for the community, and they’re right
behind me, beside me, and we’re moving forward,”
she said.
City Council Ward 3 Councilman
and Council President Marco Sommerville,
a Democrat, handily defeated Independent challenger
Olin Clay by a vote of 78 percent to 22 percent.
Sommerville said he is “pleased
that the people of the Third Ward gave me another opportunity
to serve. It’s a pleasure to serve, and I look
forward to continuing the progress in my district.”
He said he will focus on improving
employment in Ward 3 and plans to make an announcement
to that end soon.
Barberton Municipal
Court judge
In the race for Barberton Municipal
Court judge, six candidates vied for the seat of Judge
Michael Weigand, who is not seeking re-election. David
Fish was the winner with 37 percent of the vote. He
was followed by Todd McKenney with 32 percent, Diana
Stevenson with 12 percent, John Casalinuovo with 10
percent, William Sremack with 7 percent and Diane Guzzo
with 3 percent. The court’s jurisdiction includes
Copley and Norton.
Bath
Bath Township Trustee Elaina
Goodrich easily won re-election to her seat. Goodrich,
a trustee since 1996, received 56 percent of the vote,
while challenger Ken Ertel received 41 percent and Ernest
Mertens 3 percent. Goodrich
said she looks forward to serving her fourth term.
“It gives me an opportunity
to try some more new ideas,” said Goodrich, who
added she plans to continue doing what she can to keep
Bath rural, serve youths and seniors and keep taxes
low.
Voters also elected Sharon Troike
over Cynthia Eitner for township fiscal officer by 66
percent to 34 percent. Current Fiscal Officer Penny
Marquette did not file to run for re-election. The term
begins April 1.
Bath voters also overwhelmingly
passed Issue No. 6, a 1.5-mill replacement fire/EMS
levy, by 74 percent of the vote.
Cuyahoga Falls
In the two Cuyahoga Falls City
Council races on the ballot in the West Side Leader
coverage area, incumbents came out on top. In the City
Council Ward 8 race, Republican incumbent Terry Mader
soundly defeated Democrat Jim Bouplon by 66 percent
to 34 percent. In the at-large City Council race, Democratic
incumbent Kathy Hummel defeated Republican Mary Myers
by 69 percent to 31 percent.
In the Cuyahoga Falls Municipal
Court clerk race, incumbent Democrat Lisa Zeno Carano
defeated Republican state Rep. John Widowfield (R-District
42) by 55 percent to 45
percent.
Fairlawn
In the Fairlawn City Council
Ward 6 race, winner Effler defeated political newcomer
Davis by 11 votes, 129 to 118. Effler held the seat
12 years ago before current Ward 6 Councilman Steve
Yashnik, who decided not to run for re-election.
“It’s been a while,
and I took time off to spend more time with my family,
which is what I think Steve [Yashnik] wants to do now,”
said Effler. “Basically, I think it will be picking
up where I left off.”
Highland Local Schools Board
of Education
For the two contested seats
on the Highland Local Schools Board of Education, voters
elected candidate Mike Houska with 36 percent of the
vote and incumbent Norman Christopher with 31 percent.
Edward Rain came in third with 20 percent and Richard
Druesedow came in fourth with 14 percent.
Norton
Norton’s new mayor will
be Republican David Koontz, who received 62 percent
of the vote. Democrat Tom Jones came in second with
18 percent, Independent Amy Addis was third with 13
percent and Independent Norman Kendell received 7 percent.
Koontz said he is “very
grateful to my wife and family and all my supporters
and to the rest of the voters in Norton. I won’t
let them down.”
He said he’s looking forward
to sitting down with department heads to plan next year’s
budget and to tackling economic development issues in
the city.
Jones said he wasn’t surprised
to see Koontz come out in the top spot, and he’s
looking forward to continuing to serve on Norton City
Council as the Ward 1 representative for another two
years.
In the race for City Council
at large, voters re-elected Republican Mike Zita and
Democrats Brenda Hlas and Scott Pelot to serve. All
were incumbents. Zita received 25 percent, Hlas received
18 percent and Pelot received 17 percent.
Challenging Republican William
Conte received 15 percent and Democrats Ralph Beddow
and Alex Stavarz received 14 percent and 12 percent
of the vote, respectively.
Zita expressed thanks to the
community for returning the incumbents to Council.
“For the people who didn’t
support us, I hope that here in the next four years
or so, that we can gain some trust,” Zita said.
Pelot said he would like to
“thank the Norton residents
for their support for another four years.”
Like Koontz, he said he is looking
forward to capitalizing on opportunities for economic
development and attracting and retaining businesses.
Hlas didn’t return a call
for comment.
Conte seemed disappointed in
the loss and said he is undecided whether he would seek
office again in the future. He said one positive aspect
of the election is that controversial issues on the
ballot in Norton apparently drew a large voter turnout.
Norton voters saw a slew of
charter amendments on the ballot, the most controversial
of which was arguably Issue No. 45, an amendment intended
to disband the Norton Police Department and contract
with the Summit County Sheriff’s Office or another
political subdivision for policing services.
That was the only charter amendment
that failed, with 69 percent voting against Issue No.
45 and 31 percent voting for it.
Jones spearheaded the effort
to get the charter amendment on the ballot.
“I put it out there, and
[the voters] made their choice, so that’s the
bottom line,” he said. “We didn’t
have the money, our group. ... The police issue, they
spent a lot of money supporting their jobs.”
Jones said he is somewhat disappointed
that Norton residents didn’t see a cost savings
in abolishing the police department.
Police Chief Greg Carris said
he wanted to “thank the residents of Norton for
their support. ... It’s great to know that this
distraction is behind us.”
Norton voters approved Issue
No. 38, a 3-mill fire levy, with a vote of 56 percent
to 44 percent. The levy will generate $820,000 per year,
provide funds for construction of a new fire station,
replace aging equipment and provide training and education
for employees.
Voters also approved Issue Nos.
39-44 and 46, amendments that: change the residency
guidelines for mayor; amend the time and place for City
Council’s organizational meeting; add an alternative
member to the Board of Zoning and Building Appeals;
merge the Parks and Recreation and Cemetery boards;
force salary raises for mayor and Council members to
be approved by voters; and prohibit the mayor or any
member of Council voted out of office or removed by
petition from holding an appointed position and/or serving
on any city board or commission for two years.
In the Norton City Schools Board
of Education race, candidates Jim Bennett and Elisa
Worthington were the top two vote-getters for the two
open seats. Bennett garnered 44 percent of the vote
and Worthington 31 percent.
Candidate Ben Hyder came in third with 25 percent.
Peninsula Village
In Peninsula Village, voters
put former mayor Richard Fisher back in office. Fisher
was the winner of the mayor’s race with 52 percent.
Current Mayor Michael Kaplan received 33 percent of
the vote. Bob Hrovat got 15 percent.
Fisher said he thinks voters
responded to his campaign because of one issue: money.
“The equipment is down
and it needs to be repaired,” Fisher said. “They
couldn’t make quarterly payroll a couple of months
ago. It boiled down to management. I’ve been there
before and we were successful.
“I’m pretty tight,”
he added. “We won’t be wasting any money.”
Kaplan declined to comment on
the race.
In the race for Peninsula Village
Council, newcomers Dee Holody and Jodi Padrutt won the
two seats available, while incumbents Grover Miller
and Jay Pedone were ousted. Holody received 32 percent
and Padrutt 24 percent, while Miller received 22 percent,
as did Pedone.
Holody and Padrutt both said
they think they can provide a new point of view on Council.
“We need a fresh perspective,”
Holody said, “and some new, vibrant viewpoints.
I’m just very happy the community has faith I
can bring that to the table.”
The two also agreed the village’s
finances need to be dealt with.
“The first thing we need
to look at are finances, then zoning and building a
business base for the community,” Padrutt said.
Miller said he was surprised
by the outcome. He served two terms on Council, from
1994 to 1998 and 2004 to present.
“I’ve done quite
a bit of work for the village in the last four years,”
he said, noting the new police and fire stations.
Richfield Township
Richfield Township Trustee Shano
Cica-Mraz, the first woman to hold that office in the
township, was defeated by challenger Janet Jankura 51
percent to 49 percent.
Cica-Mraz, who has been a trustee
since 2000, could not be reached for comment.
Jankura said she is looking
forward to serving on the board.
“I feel honored the township
voters elected me,” she said. “I’m
privileged to serve. I went door to door and tried to
meet all the voters and listen to them and hear their
issues. I think that helped a lot.”
Richfield Village
In Richfield Village, Mayor
Michael Lyons was the victor over Bobbie Beshara,
a member of Richfield Village Council. Lyons received
55 percent to Beshara’s 45 percent.
“I appreciate the confidence
the voters placed in me,” Lyons said. “This
was an election that revolved around whether we look
at things on a short-term or long-term basis.”
Beshara, who has two years left
in her Council term, said she felt she ran a good race.
“I’m proud of our
accomplishments,” she said. “I think we
did a really good job.”
She added she might consider
running for mayor again in four years.
“I want to be here for
the residents,” she said.
Two newcomers were elected to
three of the seats on Richfield Village Council. Michael
Wheeler was the top vote-getter with 28 percent, while
Patrick Lovejoy got 26 percent. Incumbent Robert Hooper
retains his seat after getting 27 percent of the votes.
Lovejoy said he thinks his past
experience as a member of the Revere Local Schools Board
of Education helped his candidacy.
“But I believe there were
four great candidates to choose from,” Lovejoy
said.
Wheeler and Hooper were unavailable
for comment.
Incumbent George Strongosky
did not retain his seat, as he got 19 percent of the
vote.
“I’m extremely disappointed,
and as far as I’m concerned, it’s the residents’
and village’s loss that I lost because of my experience
and dedication,” Strongosky said.
Sharon
Incumbent James Dudek defeated
challengers Jim Berry and John Winland for his bid for
re-election to the Sharon Board of Trustees. Dudek received
52 percent of the vote, followed by Berry at 42 percent
and Winland at 6 percent.
Issues
The two county issues for social
services passed with nearly the same margin of votes.
Voters approved Issue No. 20,
a six-year, 2.95-mill replacement levy for the Summit
County Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health (ADM)
Services Board with 55 percent.
The ADM board provides drug
and alcohol treatment, a 24-hour suicide prevention
hotline and mental health services to more than 73,000
individuals in the county. Funds from the levy will
be used to maintain programming, provide more in-county
treatment and fund “livable” wages for employees.
ADM Executive Chairman Don Davies
said supporters were excited to see the issue was ahead
all night.
“The whole night was
very, very positive,” Davies
said.
He credited the well-run ADM
campaign as well as the message that it’s better
to pay for treatment than incarceration.
Issue No. 21, which supports
Summit County Children Services (SCCS), also came out
a winner with 54 percent of voters in favor of the six-year,
2.25-mill replacement levy.
John Saros, executive director
of SCCS, said he was thankful voters supported the levy.
“I’m deeply grateful
to the voters of Summit County, who have again conveyed
a sense for the work of this agency and the concern
and love for children of the community,” said
Saros.
The new director said it was
an “enormous relief” to have the levy
pass on the first attempt.
Voters in Boston and Peninsula
approved Issue No. 19, a renewal of the 6.3-mill, five-year
levy used to fund operating costs of the Valley Fire
District. The levy will not increase property taxes
for residents.
Highland Local Schools
District levy (Issue No. 17 for Summit County residents)
Voters living in the Highland
Local Schools District overwhelmingly approved the district’s
10-year, 7.9-mill renewal levy (Issue No. 17 for Summit
County voters) by 67 percent.
The levy, which collects $3.56
million annually, currently costs the owner of a $100,000
home $178.77 in property taxes, according to the Medina
County Auditor’s Office. The renewal is not a
tax increase and will be used to maintain current services,
said Superintendent Bruce Armstrong.
Medina County District Library
levy
Medina County voters also approved
the Medina County District Library’s (MCDL) 1.25-mill
replacement levy, but by a slim margin — 50.33
percent to 49.67 percent.
The levy, initially passed by
voters in 1992 and later renewed in 1997, will cost
the owner of a $100,000 home about $40 a year. The replacement
accounts for 40 percent of the MCDL’s overall
revenue, according to MCDL officials.
For a listing of total vote
counts for all the races and issues in our coverage
area, visit the West Side Leader election section at
www.akron.com.
For results of races we have not listed, visit
the Summit County Board of Elections Web site at www.summitcountyboe.com.
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