Wrap Up - Part Two

First, if you want to be elected to Council, make sure you get on the ballot.  As I understand it, Ms. Barrett did very little campaigning, yet garnered the most votes.  This can be attributed to having lots of friends, or simply being a name on the ballot that wasn’t already on Council.  The total amount of write-in votes trailed the lowest on-ballot candidate by nearly fifty.  This means that the last spot on Council could be filled by someone who received less than one hundred votes.  I’ll be interested to see the write-in breakdown.

Second, Howard Furl stands to be re-elected as a Township Trustee after a brutal campaign against him by the community, especially certain folks in the Village.  How this will affect relations between the Council and Trustees remains to be seen, but it can’t be a good thing.  There should be an automatic recount because of the number of votes separating him and Kevin Knight, but again, I’ve heard no certain statement in that direction.

The Village Income Tax increase failed again with nearly the same percentages as the last time the increase was proposed.  It seems that its not the fact that the increase is going up against various levies, but voters are speaking against the increase itself.  It is time that the Council look into alternative forms of funding the Police Department rather than primarily through the General Fund.

The Fire Levy passed by less than fifty votes.  It seems that this is the “OK, we’ll give you one last shot” voice speaking out from not only those in the Village, but also in the Township itself.  The Trustees and Council need to put aside their arguing and posturing and get to work for the people whom they represent.  If there is not a Joint Fire District in place (or a definitive reason for not doing so) by the time the next levy rolls around, that levy will fail.  Perhaps the Trustees can take a lesson from the Village’s reluctance to increase their own taxes for Police purposes.  This is about the will of the people, not which body or people maintain power and control.