Dublin, Milton and Richmond will see some new faces on their councils, while Richmond’s mayor and clerk are getting one more term.
Dublin
In Dublin, M. Bruce Moles, Patricia Finley, Rex Snyder, Larry Walters and Pamela Chaney were elected to town council. Voters could choose five of the eight at-large candidates on the ballot.
Moles had the most votes, with 57, followed by Finley (54), Snyder (53), Walters (44) and Chaney (43). Leonard Payne Sr. and Emmett Webb each had 41.
John Myers, a Democrat who recently moved away from the area but had to remain on the ballot, had 12 votes.
Dublin council members will represent a range of political parties. Moles and Snyder ran as Independents, while Chaney and Finley are Republicans and Walters is a Libertarian.
Voters returned four incumbents and supported one challenger. Snyder, who recently retired after 40 years of work for the town, most recently as assistant superintendent, had not previously run for public office.
Incumbent Webb and challenger Payne both ran as Republicans.
Dublin Clerk-Treasurer Julia McCarty, an Independent, was unopposed, and received 72 votes.
Milton
Meanwhile, Milton residents had seven at-large council candidates on the ballot, and could vote for five. Republican Phillip Edwards had the most votes, with 68. He was followed by Libertarian Ryan Coby (58). They were both challengers.
Incumbents Democrat Robert Simon (51), Republican John Noland (48) and Republican Hugh Payne Jr. (43) will return to council.
Republican Joy May, who was appointed to fill a vacancy a few months ago, had 42 votes and longtime Republican member Agnes Fisher had 41.
A total of 351 votes were cast for Milton town council candidates.
Milton’s clerk-treasurer Terry Craig ran unopposed, and the Republican received 51 votes.
Richmond
Richmond voters selected incumbent Dave Snow as mayor with 49.55 percent of the vote over Jamie Lopeman (44.46 percent) and Thomas J. Owens (5.99 percent).
Snow, a Democrat, had 1,868 votes over Republican Lopeman’s 1,676 and Independent Owens’ 226.
Voters also selected incumbent Karen Chasteen, a Democrat, as clerk with 66.24 percent of the vote, followed by Independent Angela “Annie” Petitt (17.83 percent) and Libertarian Diane Whitehead (15.94 percent).
However, Richmond Republicans will still have a majority of seats on common council compared to Democrats. That lead will shrink to 5-4 instead of the GOP’s current 6-3 majority.
Richmond’s three at-large council seats all went to Republicans. Newcomer Jane Bumbalough narrowly led with 1,671 votes over incumbent Ronald Oler (1,625) and Larry Parker, who served on council for many years but took a break for the last four years (1,479).
They faced Democrats D. Sue Roberson (1,378), C. Yvonne Washington (1,279) and Nick Dunlap (1,197).
Incumbent Kelley Cruse-Nicholson, a Democrat, was re-elected to District 2 on the city’s north side, defeating challengers Ardene Schoeffler (Republican) and Tito Rodriquez (Libertarian). Cruse-Nicholson had 227 votes over Schoeffler’s 150 and Rodriquez’ 28.
District 3, which largely includes homes in the city’s south side near Glen Miller Park with a small area north of U.S. 40, will have a new councilman. Democrat Bill Engle won with 456 votes (55.54 percent) over Republican Samantha Bryant, who had 365 votes (44.46 percent). Longtime District 3 councilman Bruce Wissel did not seek-re-election.
Another new face on council will be Republican Jeff Cappa, who ran unopposed for District 4 to represent the city’s far-east side. Cappa retired as Wayne County sheriff at the end of 2018 and now works at Reid Health.
Incumbents Doug Goss, a Democrat representing District 1, Jeffrey Locke, a Democrat representing District 5, and Gary Turner, a Republican representing District 6, faced no opposition.
By Millicent Martin Emery