Based on unofficial tallies from last night, there will be one new member of the McPherson USD 418 Board of Education come January. Blaine Janssen was the second-place finisher among four ballot candidates for the three seats up this year. Incumbent Dr. Lara Vanderhoof, the current Board president, and Perry McCabe also finished in the top three with Sherrie Sparks finishing 4th. There were 1,311 write in votes cast Tuesday, with three candidates waging write-in campaigns. Those ballots will be counted at the vote canvass scheduled for Nov. 17.
While mayoral candidates in McPherson and Inman were unopposed Tuesday, there were mayor and council races elsewhere in McPherson County. Clark Shultz was re-elected Lindsborg Mayor, while Hank Kugelman was elected mayor in Marquette and Jeremy Moore in Moundridge. Tyler Johnson, Andrew Smith and Erica Lysell won Lindsborg City Council positions. In Inman, one of the two city council seats on the ballot was claimed by Dennis Schroeder. Nick Reinecker finished second, but there were 187 write-in ballots cast in that race, more than double the number of votes Reinecker received and four less than received by Schroeder.
In Salina, Trent Davis and Greg Lenkiewicz won four-year terms on the Salina City Commission, with Doug Rempp claiming a two-year term as the 3rd place finisher. Salina USD 305 Board of Education seats went to Bonnie Schamberger, Amy Freelove and Gabe Grant, while in Southeast of Saline USD 306 the winners were Skylar Hanson, Jill Ade and Stephanie Markle. Debbie Lytle, John Kolhoff and Cy Taylor won city commission seats in Abilene while Chris West won the only contested race in Abilene USD 435.
Harvey County’s most heated election was in Halstead, where voters also approved an ordinance banning type two and three battery energy storage systems in the city limits by a more than 2-1 margin. Gary Faelber was elected Halstead mayor and James Val Schaick, Shawna Will and Roger Keating took City Council Seats. Susan Swartzendruber was elected Hesston Mayor with Brad Unruh, Kevin Logan and Susan Hastings were elected to the Hesston City Council.
In Newton Jason Miller, Leroy Koehn and Melanie Watson took Newton City Commission spots with Bob Diepenbrock, Heidi Hoskinson and Rachel McDaniel elected to the USD 373 Board of Education. Other school board spots were won by Regan bone, Westin Koch and Abagail Schmidt in Burrton USD 369; Layne Frick, Sara Jantz and Ryan Jelle in Hesston USD 460, and Tim Boese and Jennifer Linton in Halstead-Bentley USD 440
Marion County contested races saw Kevin Burke elected mayor and Randy Dalke and Beth Peter to the City Council in Peabody, with Mollie Partridge, Hannah Bourbon and Lisa Hutto elected in Peabody Burns USD 398, Mollie Gunn, Alisha Haines and Jenna Meyerhoff in Marion-Florence USD 408, and Jim Schmidt in the one contested race in Goessel USD 411.
Four area tax questions gained voter approval Tuesday, while one was overwhelmingly turned down. McPherson County voters approved on not quite a 3-2 margin a half percent sales tax that will fund the five EMS providers in McPherson County instead of relying on property taxes. Inman voters approved one mill property tax levy to support operations of the Inman Senior Center, and Solomon voters approved a one percent sales tax, partly targeted to water system improvements, and Burrton voters also approved a sales tax proposal. The tax vote that failed did so in a big way, as a proposed $109.5 million bond issue was rejected by Hutchinson USD 308 voters by nearly a 3-1 margin. That proposal would have constructed a new middle school at the district’s athletic fields which would be relocated and repurposed one of the existing middle school. The district would have disposed of other facilities including the 7th grade middle school facility that is the southernmost school in the district.
Ottawa County voters narrowly approved a proposal allowing corporate swine production facilities in the County, with 750 votes in favor and 722 opposed. Donald Weiland and Karl Serrien won seats on the Bennington City Council.
In Ellsworth County, Travis Holt won Position 4 on the USD 327 Board of Education.
