In a hotly-contested race, Urbana City Schools Board of Education elected four citizens to fill open seats starting Jan. 1, 2018, according to unofficial final results Tuesday night from the Champaign County Board of Elections.
One seat belonged to Warren Stevens until he died in a car crash in autumn of 2016 and the term for that seat expires Dec. 31, 2019. Laura Reed and Sarah Finch were contending for the seat and Finch won by approximately a 60-40 percentage margin. Nine others were vying for three seats on the board, with incumbents Tim Lacy, Alyssa Dunham and Darrell Thomas in the race. Current board member Jack Beard opted not to seek re-election after his term expires. Amy Shaloo Paul, Darrell Thomas and Tim Lacy won the three seats. Paul had 1,177 votes, Thomas 1,041, Lacy 907, Dunham 884, Nicole Blair 878, Jim Arter 870, Elizabeth DeWitt 809, John Birkhimer 499 and Jeff Hepp 486.
Mechanicsburg also had more candidates than the three available school board seats. Winners were Brian Forrest with 477 votes, Scott DeLong with 401 and Mary Reiser with 398. Other vote tallies were Tammy Huemmer with 356, Sarah Bradford with 298, Todd Boeck with 269 and Mack Delong with 230.
West Liberty-Salem had five listed candidates running for three seats on the school board, along with write-in candidate Julie Cole. Results from Champaign County and Logan County combined showed Chuck Buck with 1,038 votes, David Cline with 997 and Tim Lamb with 978. Other vote tallies were Cole with 919, Trey Richardson with 706 and Dixie Kopus with 691.
Other unofficial, final results from contested races included (in percentages):
St. Paris Council (elect 4): Brenda Cook, 22.6 percent; Gary Doeden, 15.8 percent; Terry Ervin II, 23.9 percent; Benjamin M. Hackley, 16.6 percent; and Susan Prince, 21.1
Adams Twp. Trustee (elect 2): Kurt Bailar, 28.34 percent; Steve L. Cook, 42.32 percent; James Paul Pullins, 29.34 percent.
Concord Twp. Trustee (elect 2): Brent Crumley, 41 percent; Jeff Kizer, 37.5; Jason McKinney, 21.5.
Jackson Twp. Trustee (elect 2): Steven Flora, 28.8 percent; David C. Jenkins, 30.2; Steven W. Runkle, 41.
Johnson Twp. Trustee (elect 2): Gary J. Dowty, 32 percent; Jason Hoelscher, 30; Jack Purk, 38.
Union Twp. Trustee (elect 2): Charles L. Dooley, 31 percent; Douglas A. Hurst, 21.3; Cory Muterspaw, 17.6; James Virts, 30.
In other local issues on the ballot, all were approved by comfortable margins except Graham Local Schools and Champaign County Historical Society, which both failed according to trending, nearly-complete results:
-Champaign County Library levy passed
-St. Paris Library levy passed
-Christiansburg renewal levy passed
-Mechanicsburg village fire/EMS levy passed
-St. Paris village streets levy passed
-Adams Twp. fire/EMS levy passed
-Goshen Twp. fire levy passed
-Goshen Memorial Park levy passed
-Harrison Twp. fire/EMS levy passed
-Mad River Twp. road levy passed
-Northeast Champaign County Fire District levy passed
-Union Twp. fire levy passed
-Wayne Twp. road levy passed
-Urbana City Schools levy passed
-Champaign County Historical Society levy failed
-Graham Local Schools 1 percent earned income tax failed
