Traverse City Record-Eagle

Election 2007

November 7, 2007

Up-to-the-minute election results

FROM STAFF REPORTS

Following is a roundup of election results in northwestern Michigan:

ANTRIM COUNTY

There were no elections in Antrim County.

BENZIE COUNTY

In a 3,192 to 927 vote, Benzie County voters approved .66 mills for five years for operating the Commission on Aging. The millage previously was approved by voters in 2002. County voters also approved a five-year renewal of 1 mill for operating the county medical facility, The Maples, by a margin of 3,285 to 856, a millage also approved by voters in 2002. In a 2,094 to 2,023 tally, voters rejected a six year, .75 mill levy to improve, repair and maintain existing local roads within townships in the county.

In the race for a four-year term on the Benzie County Central Schools Board of Education, Michelle Carnes defeated Dale Jeske 1,525 to 901. Kim Lathwell, who ran unopposed for a partial term on the board ending Dec. 31, 2008, received 2,133 votes.

In a 556 to 497 vote, Rick Schmitt defeated Wes M. Blizzard for one four-year term on the Frankfort-Elberta Area Schools Board of Education. No one ran for two partial terms on that board that end Dec. 31, 2011.

Benzonia Township voters voted 481 to 390 to reject a $1 million bond issue to erect and furnish fire station facilities.

By a margin of 165 to 100, Gilmore Township voters approved a four-year, 0.75-mill increase request to operate the Benzie Shores District Library.

For three spots on the Frankfort City Council, the winners were Susanne E. Glynn with 245 votes, Patricia J. Haugen with 265 votes and Fred W. Stransky with 269 votes. Ida P. Dodge received 174 votes, J. Douglas Holmes received 139 votes and Ken Lake received 144 votes.

Voters in Almira Township's Precinct 1B cast ballots for the Traverse City Area Public School Board of Education election and millage proposal. Megan Crandall and Marjorie Rich received the highest number of votes with 34 and 44, respectively. Derek L. Christenson received 14 votes, Chuck Curtiss earned 18 votes, Thomas Kachadurian received 16 votes, Kirt W. Kilbourne received 27 and Chris Thompson received 23 votes. They passed the bond proposal by a vote of 69 to 68.

CHARLEVOIX COUNTY

With 373 votes, incumbent Charles Vondra was re-elected to a four-year seat on the Boyne City Commission, where he will be joined by challenger Michael Cummings, who had 297 votes. They beat out incumbent Jerry Douglas, who finished with 94 votes.

On the Charlevoix City Council, former city councilman Gabe Campbell swept to victory in the second ward as a write-in candidate with 91 votes, besting Douglas Way, Jr., who had 47 votes and Kim VanMeter with 22 votes. In the first ward, Dennis Kusina defeated Mary Eveleigh 74 votes to 70, while former councilman Bob Timms had 12 votes as a write-in candidate. In the third ward, Jill Picha bested John Elzinga 119 votes to 93. Charlevoix City Clerk Carol Ochs was unopposed for another two-year term and received 444 votes.

For the four open seats on the East Jordan City Commission, voters chose incumbent Daniel Bennett with 225 votes, Ray Fisher with 266 votes, Paul Timmons with 214 votes and Deneille Moes with 182 votes to fill four-year terms. Tony Cutler received 167 votes while incumbent Fred Vollbach came in last with 137 votes. East Jordan voters also approved a request to allow city officials to borrow $250,000 to make improvements to the harbor marina and boat launch facilities with 178 yes votes to 157 no votes. The 15-year general obligation tax bonds will be paid back with revenues from the marina.

CHEBOYGAN COUNTY

Richard Sangster received 300 votes as the lone candidate for the Cheboygan City Council for a partial term ending in 2010. City voters also approved a property tax increase request by 13 votes, with a final tally of 185 to 172. City officials may now increase property tax rates by 1.0218 mills, or $1.0218 for every $1,000 of taxable value. That allows the city to levy the maximum rate of 15 mills in 2008, collecting about $120,000 in local property taxes.

CRAWFORD COUNTY

Voters in the city of Grayling chose three candidates from five running for four-year openings on the city council. Mayor Lawrence Akers received 118 votes, Councilwoman Kim McClain received 120 votes and challenger Cathy McGuire received 121 votes. The two unsuccessful challengers were Steve Anderson with 117 votes and Charles Armstrong with 72 votes.

EMMET COUNTY

Petoskey Mayor Dale Meyer ran unopposed for re-election to a one-year term and received 280 votes. Council member Robert Johnson also ran unopposed in the city's third ward for a two-year term and received 40 votes. Joseph Baird did not run for re-election and his two-year seat for the first ward will be filled by James Dittmar, who received 147 votes. His challenger, Randy Crim, received 89 votes.

One person on the Harbor Springs City Council kept her seat, while the other incumbent was ousted by a former council member. Incumbent Laura Kors got 149 votes and challenger Pringle Pfeifer got 125 votes. Pfeifer unseated incumbent Dennis Wiggins, who got 92 votes. Kors and Pfeifer were elected to two-year terms.

GRAND TRAVERSE COUNTY

Challenger Michael Estes defeated incumbent Mayor Linda Smyka 2,801 to 1,536 for a two-year mayor term. In the race for three, four-year city commission seats, newcomers Barbara Boudros and Jim Carruthers won two of the seats with 2,822 and 2,766 votes respectively, while incumbent Ralph Soffredine took the third with 2,551 votes. Incumbent Scott Hardy finished a distant fourth with 1,896 votes. Commissioner Chris Bzdok was unopposed for a partial term and received 2,896 votes.

Traverse City residents also rejected a charter amendment to cap the Brown Bridge Trust Fund at $9 million, allowing a projected $3.6 million to go toward street, and sidewalk repairs over five years. The measure was defeated 2,378 to 1,946.

In the seven-way race for two, four-year terms on the Traverse City Area Public Schools board Marjie Rich won easily with 7,893 votes, while Megan Crandall edged out Kirt Kilbourne 4,580 to 4,376 for the final spot. Chris Thompson had 3,718 votes, Chuck Curtiss had 3,291 votes, Tom Kachadurian had 2,061 votes and Derek Christenson finished last with 1,280 votes. Voters also approved a 10-year renewal of the district's 3.1 millage rate by a 10,666 to 6,792 votes. The renewal would net roughly $105 million over its lifetime to fund capital improvements to such areas as elementary and secondary school buildings, buses and technology.

Voters approved BATA's request for renewal of the five-year .35 millage rate first passed in 2003 for bus service with a 13,878 yes to 3,996 vote. The millage will raise about $2.2 million in 2008 from Grand Traverse and Leelanau Counties.

Results for the Forest Area Community Schools election are listed under Kalkaska County.

Results for the Benzie County Central Schools Board of Education races are listed under Benzie County.

Due to filing errors, no names appeared on the ballot for Whitewater Township trustee, but write-in candidate Arnell Boyd appears to have defeated write-in candidate Karen Ferguson by a vote of 391 to 235. Boyd will fulfill a term that ends in November 2008. The final vote count might change if the board of canvassers determines some spellings of names are too different to be counted.

KALKASKA COUNTY

In a 101 to 35 vote, Springfield Township voters approved the renewal of 1 mill for five years to fund the maintenance and operation of the township's ambulance service. A 1 mill, five-year fire protection millage renewal was approved in a 106 to 29 vote. Voters approved a .3-mill levy for general township operations in 2007 and 2008 by a 74 to 61 margin.

In the Forest Area Community Schools board election, Joanna Durfee, running unopposed for a four-year term, received 314 votes. Nicole Gillette, who ran unopposed for a partial term expiring Dec. 31, 2009, received 322 votes. Carolyne M. Woodhams defeated Ricky D. Hulwick 247 to 122 for one partial term that expires Dec. 31, 2008. Some of those voters were in Grand Traverse County.

LEELANAU COUNTY

Voters approved BATA's request for renewal of the five-year .35 millage rate first passed in 2003 for bus service by a vote of 3,414 yes to 854 no. The millage will raise about $2.2 million in 2008 from Grand Traverse and Leelanau Counties.

Elmwood Township voters rejected by a vote of 779 to 581 a proposal to levy up to 1.282 mills for five years to fund the fire department.

Results for the Traverse City Area Public Schools and Traverse City elections are listed under Grand Traverse County

MANISTEE COUNTY

Voters approved a $14.1 million bond issue request by Onekama Consolidated Schools in a 637 to 493 vote. The money is intended to fund security systems, educational technology systems and equipment, the construction of a bus garage and the development and improvement of athletic facilities.

For three open Manistee City Council spots, Cynthia Fuller received 336 votes, IIona Haydon received 292 votes and Richard Mack received 327 votes. All three ran unopposed.

MISSAUKEE COUNTY

Lake City voters denied both a five-year elimination of the Headlee Real Property Tax roll back provision — 103 no to 52 yes votes — and denied a permanent 1 mill levy for law and municipal code enforcement on a vote of 92 to 66. Micheal Russell received 130 votes for mayor while Pat Ritz won a write-in vote for treasurer with 80 votes compared to five write-in votes for Dorothy Helsel. Alan Gray had 116 votes and Nancy Girardot had 128 votes to sew up two of three council member spots. The third spot went to write-in candidate Tina Jo Helsel with 58 votes. Write-in candidate Shannon Hancock finished fourth with 17 votes.

In McBain all candidates were unopposed. Donald Schepers received 34 votes for mayor, Evelyn Lucas had 34 votes for clerk, and Talli Lutke received 35 voters for treasurer. For the three alderman positions Don Ellens finished first with 34 votes, Charles DeCator had 30 votes, and Don Heuker received 29 votes.

OTSEGO COUNTY

Gaylord city incumbents ran unopposed and will serve new terms. Mayor Gladys Solokis received 265 votes for another two-year term. Clerk Rebecca Curtis had 266 votes and Treasurer David Duffield got 268, each earning another two-year term. Three city council members ran for re-election, including Joseph Wambold with 82 votes, Todd Sharrard with 106 votes and Gerald Campbell with 66 votes. They were all re-elected for four-year terms.

WEXFORD COUNTY

For three open seats on the Cadillac Area Public School board, Steven K. Anderson received 1,576 votes, Gary S. Rexford received 1,663 votes and Michael J. Stebbins earned 1,476 votes.

In the race for mayor of Cadillac, William S. Barnett defeated Gordon D. Baas by a margin of 1,014 to 897. For Cadillac City Council, Shari Spoelman received 1,518 votes and Arthur Dale Stevens received 1,504 votes. Both Spoelman and Stevens ran unopposed.

Raymond Kimbel, who ran unopposed for a two-year term as the mayor of Manton, received 96 votes. Teresa Loving, who ran unopposed for a four-year term as clerk of Manton, received 100 votes. Sue Fullerton, Rick Rayment and John E. Robbins received 85, 83, and 82 votes respectively in their bids for three four-year terms as Manton commissioners. In a 57 to 44 vote, Nate Heffron defeated Ruth A. Tiszai for a partial commissioner term ending Nov. 30, 2009. Ruth Abrahamson received 74 votes and Minnie M. Robb received 95 votes. Both were running for two two-year terms on the Manton Board of Review.

Cedar Creek Township voters rejected the recall of Clerk Pat Buttermore in a 257 to 128 vote. The recall of Supervisor Gary Gilmore was rejected by a 258 to 142 margin.

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