News
Athens County Elects New Council, School Board Members
By: Susan Tebben
Posted on:
New faces will take over positions on the Athens City Council and school boards around the county, based on unofficial election results from Tuesday.
Peter Kotses narrowly edged into the highest vote count in the at-large Athens City Council race, with 1,527 votes (25 percent). Sarah Hodges Grace will also join council, finishing second with 1,447 votes (23.4 percent). Incumbent Patrick McGee grabbed the last spot for at-large council members, with 1,429 votes (23.1 percent). Arian Smedley and Noah Trembly were the other two candidates in the race.
The local 317-Board, which is the Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board representing Athens, Hocking and Vinton received 70 percent support for their 1-mil renewal levy. The Athens County Board of Developmental Disabilities also received the votes they needed (71 percent) to approve the renewal of their 1.8-mil levy.
The Athens City School District will welcome Paul Grippa (19 percent) and Sean Parsons (17 percent), who will both join incumbent Kim Goldsberry, who won with 21 percent of the vote.
Athens City School District will continue their income tax levy for another decade, as it passed with 65 percent of the vote.
Alexander Local Schools elected members of their board that will oversee the next steps for the district as it faces yet another income tax levy failure. The levy went down with 60 percent voting no. Josh Collins (20 percent of the vote), Jay Barnes (19 percent) and incumbent Fred Davis (16 percent) were elected to the board Tuesday night.
Federal Hocking Local School District elected Kerry Sheridan-Boyd to their board (29 percent), along with Sara Brumfield (27 percent) and Lester Green (25 percent).
In Trimble, Norma J. Arnold (26.6 percent), John R. Standley (26.1 percent) and Kevin Coey (25 percent) were elected to the school board.
Gary Edwards received 40 percent of the vote in the race for Nelsonville-York City School District Board of Education, joining Micah Covert (39 percent) in being elected to the board.
In the Warren Local School District, Debra A. Proctor won 38 percent of the vote, followed by Bob Allen and Bob Crum, who both received 23.08 percent.
On state issues, Athens County paralleled state numbers. Issue 1, which regarded crime victims’ rights, passed with 72 percent of the vote in Athens County. Issue 2, regarding prescription drug prices, failed with 69 percent voting “no.”