Elections board rejects petitions of two candidates

CELINA - Mercer County Board of Elections members this week approved the petitions of numerous candidates and issues for the November general election ballot.

A few of the township trustee races will be contested. However, no names will appear on the ballot for numerous open seats on some boards and councils. For instance, Chickasaw, Montezuma and Mendon village councils each have four open seats but no valid petitions were filed. Write-in candidates have until Aug. 28 to file with the board of elections.

Two candidates' petitions were tossed out due to insufficient valid signatures.

Chad Kaiser submitted petitions to run for Burkettsville Village Council. He needed 10 valid signatures to appear on the ballot. Also, anyone seeking a public seat in a district that falls in two counties has to use separate petition papers when collecting signatures in both counties, board of elections director Laura Bruns said.

"Unfortunately, three of the signatures on his petition were from Darke County, so he only had seven valid (signatures)," Bruns said. "If he had three (signatures) on one page, we would have sent them to Darke County. They could have approved them and it would have been OK, but it's all on the same page so that's not allowed."

Curtis Hayes submitted petitions to run for Mercer County Educational Service Center Board of Governors. He needed 50 valid signatures to appear on the ballot. However, only 45 of his collected signatures were deemed valid.

Bruns said some of Hayes' signatures were from voters in the Celina and Coldwater districts, which are not part of the ESC's voting district.

"We did verify that," Bruns said, pointing out ESC superintendent Shelly Vaughn confirmed that the ESC voting district is made up of Marion Local, St. Henry, Fort Recovery and Parkway school districts.

Board members moved to invalidate the petitions of both Kaiser and Hayes.

The rest of the candidate petitions, though, were certified on Thursday.

Also, incumbent public officeholders - such as Celina Ward 3 Councilman Mark Fleck - who didn't file for boards or councils that have seats up for grab could still stay on after the elections as holdovers if no other candidates or not enough candidates filed, according to Bruns.

"If a candidate is not on the ballot and they're currently in the office, they are held over," Bruns said. "As far as the term that they're held over or how that holdover works is kind of up to each village and each particular subdivision. They have to kind of work that out with their own legal counsel."

The following candidates and issues will appear on the November general election ballot:
Mercer County

• municipal court judge - Kathryn Speelman, Republican, Maria Stein

• Mercer County Educational Service Center Board of Governors - three open seats, Jeff Davis and Tess Mescher
Burkettsville

• village council - four open seats, Douglas Garke and Martin Wenning
Celina

• city council president - Jason King. Republican

• treasurer - Ryan Byers, Republican

• city council - ward 1, Myron Buxton, Republican; ward 2, Eric Baltzell, Republican; ward 3, no valid petition filed; ward 4, Eric Clausen, Republican

• city school board of education - two open seats, Matthew Gilmore and Carl Huber

• liquor option for Roberts Town Tavern Inc. doing business as C-Town Wings & Patio for on-premise Sunday sales of spiritous liquor

• liquor option for Kroger Limited Partnership doing business as Ruler Foods for the off premise sale of beer, wine and mixed beverages

• liquor option for Red Door Productions LLC doing business as 211 Club to sell on and off premise beer, wine, mixed beverages and sell on premise spirituous liquor on Sunday

• liquor option for Amstutz & Orick LLC for on and off premise sales of beer, wine and mixed beverages and on-remise sales of spiritous liquor at 209. S. Main St.
Chickasaw

• village council - four open seats, no valid petitions filed

• board of public affairs - one open seat, no valid petition filed
Coldwater

• village council - west ward, Ralph Schwieterman; central ward, Don Ahrens; northwest ward, Thomas James; southwest ward, Kevin Brunswick

• village school board of education - three open seats, Gary Hoying and Mike Hoying
Fort Recovery

• village council - four open seats, Dave Bretz, Erik Fiely, Greg Schmitz and Cliff Wendel

• village school board of education - three open seats, Greg LeFevre
Marion Local
School District

• three open board of education seats, Phil Moeller and Jesse Rose
Mendon

• village council - four open seats, no valid petitions filed

• board of trustees of public affairs - one open seat, no valid petition
Montezuma

• village council - four open seats, no valid petitions filed
Rockford

• village council - four open seats, Steven Gehle, Chris Heitkamp, William Now and Shane Young

• liquor option for Deerf Clubhouse LLC doing business as Deerfield Golf Course for on-premise sales of beer, wine and mixed beverages

Parkway Local
School District

• board of education - three open seats, Melissa Burtch and Tom Lyons

• Vantage Career Center five-year, 0.8 mill renewal operating levy
St. Henry

• village council - four open seats, Joseph Wourms and Tim Mescher

• board of education - three open seats, Andy Fullenkamp and Josh Schmackers
Townships

• Blackcreek Township - two open trustee seats, John Schumm and Ben Sutter; fiscal officer, Curtis Hamrick

• Butler Township - two open trustee seats, Doug Broering, Hubert Homan and Nicholas Kahlig

• Center Township - two open trustee seats, Jeff Everman and
Rick Germann; five-year, 1.95 mill renewal-and-increase fire levy

• Dublin Township - two open trustee seats, Tim Metz and Bart Walls; five-year, 1 mill renewal fire levy; five-year, 1 mill renewal operating levy

• Franklin Township - two open trustee seats, Joe Karafit, Neal Klosterman and Ronald Niekamp

• Gibson Township - two open trustee seats, Donald Kahlig and Gary Post

• Granville Township - two open trustee seats, Greg Clune, Marvin Siefring and Matt Sudhoff

• Hopewell Township - two open trustee seats, Keith Canary and Steve Heckler; five-year, 1.95 renewal-and-increase fire levy

• Jefferson Township - two open trustee seats, Keith Houts and Kent Marbaugh; one unexpired trustee term, Joe Bey and Nick Laux

• Liberty Township - two open trustee seats, Trevor Eischen and Randy Thomas; five-year, 1 mill renewal fire levy

• Marion Township - two open trustee seats, Ronald Bruns and Larry Reichert

• Recovery Township - two open trustee seats, Nick Kremer and Scott Overman

• Union Township - two open trustee seats, Galen Hesse and Tom Miller

• Washington Township - two open trustee seats, Dale Boeckman and Pat Sudhoff