Belleville voters turn down charter change, 2 to 1

By Rosemary K. Otzman
Independent Editor
The Belleville City Charter remains whole after city voters emphatically refused to delete the Civil Service Commission chapter in Tuesday’s General Election.
The vote was 321 to remove the Civil Service Commission chapter and 725 not to remove it.
In the Belleville Area District Library Board election for four seats, all the women candidates won and all the men candidates lost. The unofficial totals from Belleville, Van Buren, and Sumpter are:
Sharon Peters – 3,683
Tonya Stoudemire – 3,499
Mary Jane Dawson – 3,427
LaChelle Reed Caver – 2,894
Philip Miller – 2,774
Bernard Grant – 2,664
Paul Henning, — 2,318
Joe Monte – 2,069
Van Buren Public School Board
The Van Buren Public School Board of Education incumbents Sherry Frazier and Kevin English were reelected to the board, along with newcomer Alison Bennett. Incumbent Scott Russell was unseated.
The unofficial totals for the school district, which includes Belleville, Van Buren Township and parts of Sumpter, Canton, and Ypsilanti Township, are:
Sherry Frazier – 4,937
Kevin English – 4,294
Alison Bennett – 4,067
Scott Russell – 3,677
Matthew Mann – 2,921
34th District Court Judge
34th District Court Judge David Parrott retained his seat for six more years, as he bested challenger Lisa Martin. The unofficial total for the five communities in the district was 9,084 (57%) for Judge Parrott and 6,963 (43%) for Martin.
State Senator, 8th District
Hoon-Yung Hopgood, D, retained his state senate seat over challenger Darrell McNeill, R.
State Representatives
In District 21, Kristy Pagan, D, earned 15,796 to fill Rep. Dian Slavens’ seat and Carol Fausone, R, earned 12,951.
In District 12, Erika Geiss, D, retained her husband’s seat with 5,163, over Kelly Thompson, R, 1,469.
In District 17, Bill LaVoy, D, retained his seat with 14,623 votes over Charles Londo, R, at 9,903.