Two new trustees will be sitting on the Van Buren Public Schools Board of Education beginning in January, according to unofficial numbers from Tuesday’s General Election.
Voters chose newcomer Kelly Owen with 7,042 votes and retired secretary to the superintendent Kathleen Kovach with 6,492.
Unseated was longtime board member Toni Hunt, who earned 6,231. Newcomer Benjamin Ross earned 5,226.
Sumpter Twp. Fire Millage
Sumpter Township voters renewed the fire millage with 2,333 yes votes to 1,510 no votes. All the board candidates were unopposed Democrats.
District Library Board
Incumbents were returned to the three open seats on the Belleville Area District Library Board, with Joy Cichewicz getting 7,814 votes, Michael Boelter 7,514, and John Juriga 6,006. George Chedraue, an attorney who earned 4,563 votes, lost his bid for the board.
Van Buren Township
The only race on the ballot for Van Buren Township government was in the trustee race with four open seats. The four Democrats running for trustee won over the lone Republican candidate, Ann Frances Fioritto, who earned 4,160 votes.
Linda Combs earned 10,156 to win supervisor (with 714 write-ins); Leon Wright got 10,091 for clerk (with 221 write-ins); and Sharry Budd got 10,415 for treasurer (with 149 write-ins). Trustee winners were Phil Hart, 9,258; Brenda McClanahan, 8,983; Jeff Jahr, 8,921; and Reggie Miller 8,815.
Of the 22,154 registered voters in VBT, about 63% cast ballots, with some not voting on the second page of the ballot. In Belleville 1,867 cast ballots.