By John Estridge
Brookville’s question to allow two more town council members went down in flames Tuesday, Nov. 8.
Also, there will be two new school board members, and Bobby Evans replaced incumbent Democrat Joe Gillespie in District 4 County Council’s race.
With the Brookville question, the No votes, which meant people were not in favor of two more Brookville Town Council members won overwhelmingly, 581-182, or 76-24 percent.
BTC President Curtis Ward pushed to have the council enlarged from the current five members to seven. Had that passed, Ward would have been able to appoint the two new members, and they would take their seats immediately. This would keep Ward in the majority faction on council. Currently, almost every vote in the BTC is 4-1 for Ward’s initiatives.
Two new council members were put in place with Tuesday’s election, Bridget Hayes and Earl Moore. That should turn the voting to 3-2 against Ward’s initiatives come Jan. 1, 2023.
With the school board, the election was for at-large seats, meaning the top three vote getters will sit on the school board. Kevin Kaiser and Brandy Wilson were the top two in the nine-person field. Kaiser had 2,236 votes or 16.99 percent. Wilson was second with 2,054 votes or 15.61 percent. Incumbent Beth Foster retained her seat with 2,032 votes or 15.44 percent.
Others and their vote totals are: incumbent Terry Bryant, 1,699 votes or 12.91 percent; Joel Biltz, 1,512 votes or 11.49 percent; Mary Keck, 1123 votes or 8.53 percent; Sean Berns, 1,006 votes or 7.64 percent; Adrienne Greene, 882 votes or 6.7 percent; and Scott McDonough, 616 votes or 4.68 percent.
In County Council District 4, former school board member and retired insurance agent Bobby Evans defeated incumbent and retired county surveyor Joe Gillespie Jr., 1,191-690 or 63.32 percent to 36.68 percent.
Brookville Township Trustee’s office also went Republican with Irwin Vonderheide winning, 1,213-655 over incumbent Democrat Kathryn (Kit) Flaspohler or 64.94-35.06 percent. In the Laurel Township Trustee race, Republican Tonya France defeated Democrat Bradley Spurlock and Independent Charles Gerrian. The vote total was 207 (56.1 percent) for French; 82 (22.22 percent) for Spurlock; and 80 (21.86 percent) for Gerrian.
In the Posey Township Trustee race, Republican Tim Hollars had 174 votes (83.65 percent) while Democrat India Burris had 34 votes (16.35 percent).
Overall, there were 2,897 Republican straight-party votes compared to 345 straight-party Democrat votes. Out of the county’s 17,102 registered voters, 7,566 casted votes Nov. 8. That is 44.24 percent.