Newcomer Finch Wins Seat On Warsaw City Council
November 6, 2019 at 2:36 a.m.
By David [email protected]
Republican Josh Finch won the race for District 2 against Independent Chris Plack, 102-80. Finch was uncontested in the Republican May primary after Councilman Ron Shoemaker ran for mayor instead of re-election and lost to incumbent Mayor Joe Thallemer.
“I’m really happy,” Finch said at the GOP?headquarters downtown Warsaw after the results came in. He said he and Plack wanted to keep the race above-board. “He’s a good guy. I wish him well and I hope he stays involved politically.”
Finch thanked Plack for staying above-board with him in the race. “We both had to work really hard for what we accomplished,” Finch said.
He said he looks forward to serving the community and constituents “whatever that looks like. I think that’s what is most important. It’s a lot more about them than me, so I’m looking forward to serving them the best I can.”
He thanked his wife, everybody that voted for him and the people who supported and helped with his campaign.
“I hope they (my constituents) reach out and I’d love to hear from them and represent them the absolute best that I can. I thank them again for their support. I look forward to serving them,” Finch said.
Council incumbents Jeff Grose, District 1; Michael Klondaris, District 3; and Diane Quance, District 5, faced Democrat challengers but held on to their seats by wide margins. Sara M. McNeal Strahan-Lenfestey challenged Grose, but lost 274-67. Roxanne Coffelt went up against Klondaris, but lost 199-66. And Jack Brunetto faced off against Quance, but lost 184-65.
Quance said, “I’m thankful that the people of my district supported me, and for those who didn’t vote for me, I’m still going to do my best all the time to represent everybody in my district.”
She said it was nice to have a race ran on issues and ideas rather than personality.
For the next four years, Quance said, “We need to manage our growth. Make sure we don’t lose the smalltown flavor of Warsaw and the personableness that we have, the neighborness we have while we’re expanding. So we need to keep our older neighborhoods viable while we’re bringing in new people.”
Klondaris was picking up his election signs Tuesday night. He said he thought the results of the election were right along party lines.
“I’m pleased that the people who voted did vote. Everyone needs to exercise their right to vote to have a say. I’m thankful and grateful and I’m going to do this job for them. My goal is to leave a better place than when I came in, and that’s not to say it was bad, but you’ve got to pay it forward,” Klondaris said.
District 4 Councilman Jerry Frush and at-large members Cindy Dobbins and Jack Wilhite were unopposed. All were Republican.
Wilhite said going forward, the city council has a lot on tap to tackle.
“Going forward, I think three of our biggest items that we could possibly be trying to get accomplished is the airport – we need to make sure that gets taken care of so that our corporations have what they need to stay in the area; of course, affordable housing for regular working people, that’s going to be a challenge; and U.S. 30. Those are the three biggest hitters that we really need to spend some time on,” Wilhite said.
Dobbins said the council received some great information Monday night on the five-year comprehensive financial plan.
“So I’m really looking forward to digging into that and seeing if there are things that we can do a little bit better to save money and to also lower the tax rate for our taxpayers,” she said.
Thallemer and Clerk-Treasurer Lynne Christiansen were unopposed in the city race.
In Syracuse, the only contested race was for clerk-treasurer.
In the May Republican primary, incumbent Paula E. Kehr-Wicker held off challenger Virginia A. Cazier with about 61% of the vote. In Tuesday’s race, she held off Democrat challenger Tim Yeager 109-34.
“I’m very appreciative of all the voters that voted for me and all the voters that came out this last season,” Kehr-Wicker said. “I’m looking forward to serving my constituents for the next four years.”
This is her first term as clerk-treasurer, but she’s worked for the town since 2001.
In Claypool, Libertarian Patricia Warner beat Democrat Charlotte Lindley for clerk-treasurer 26-13, while incumbent and Democrat Niki Miller was defeated by Republican Benny R. Stage Jr. 28-15 for the Claypool Town Council North District seat.
“I was just pleased to see what the town decided and I look forward to giving my ideas and moving the town forward,” Stage said, thanking Miller for her service.
While serving on the council is all new to him, Stage said he wants to grow the town and see the townspeople get involved in growing the town because that’s been lacking.
In other contested races around the county, Republican Patricia Cook won the Etna Green clerk-treasurer race over Democrat Amanda Ewing; Republican Myra Mast won the Pierceton clerk-treasurer race over Libertarian Brian Hartman; and Democrat and incumbent Michael Searfoss defeated Republican Greg Anderson 48-17.
In the 25 precincts that had contested races for this general election Tuesday, voter turnout was 9.26%.
In the May primary, voter turnout for the county was 15.82%. It featured a heated race between Thallemer and Shoemaker for the mayor’s seat. The only contested Warsaw city council race in the primary was for the two at-large seats, with Dobbins and Wilhite winning over Juergen Voss.
Of the 11,677 eligible registered voters in Kosciusko County, only 1,334 – or 11.42 percent – cast their ballots in the Nov. 3, 2015, general election. The city of Warsaw had only one race that year, with Republicans Cindy Dobbins, incumbent, and Jack Wilhite beating out Democrat David Baumgartner.
Clerk of the Circuit and Superior Courts Ann Torpy wasn’t surprised with the less-than-10% turnout Tuesday.
“This election usually is lower for us. In 2015, in the primary, there was a Warsaw School referendum, so you really can’t judge that election. So this wasn’t uncommon to me,” Torpy said. “Some of them had better results than I thought they were going to have, based on how many phone calls we got. Usually, we’re on the phone a lot on election day answering calls and we just didn’t have that (today).”
She said she felt Tuesday’s turnout was “typical” and was what she expected. She did note that this time they had more absentee ballots than in 2015. She said there were 201 absentee ballots for Tuesday’s election, and in 2015 there were fewer than that.
Quance said, “I think sometimes people just take it for granted, like they just think the people they want are going to get in. Or, sometimes I think people are just so overwhelmed with life and they’re so busy just trying to make ends meet and getting through day to day that they’re not thinking about the bigger picture of government, and that kind of concerns me for our future because we need people to be interested in what’s going on.”
She said that’s why she was happy to have an opponent this fall – to give people a choice. “I think people should have a choice, and I think things should be discussed and I don’t think anybody should ever get complacent with where they are.”
Republican Josh Finch won the race for District 2 against Independent Chris Plack, 102-80. Finch was uncontested in the Republican May primary after Councilman Ron Shoemaker ran for mayor instead of re-election and lost to incumbent Mayor Joe Thallemer.
“I’m really happy,” Finch said at the GOP?headquarters downtown Warsaw after the results came in. He said he and Plack wanted to keep the race above-board. “He’s a good guy. I wish him well and I hope he stays involved politically.”
Finch thanked Plack for staying above-board with him in the race. “We both had to work really hard for what we accomplished,” Finch said.
He said he looks forward to serving the community and constituents “whatever that looks like. I think that’s what is most important. It’s a lot more about them than me, so I’m looking forward to serving them the best I can.”
He thanked his wife, everybody that voted for him and the people who supported and helped with his campaign.
“I hope they (my constituents) reach out and I’d love to hear from them and represent them the absolute best that I can. I thank them again for their support. I look forward to serving them,” Finch said.
Council incumbents Jeff Grose, District 1; Michael Klondaris, District 3; and Diane Quance, District 5, faced Democrat challengers but held on to their seats by wide margins. Sara M. McNeal Strahan-Lenfestey challenged Grose, but lost 274-67. Roxanne Coffelt went up against Klondaris, but lost 199-66. And Jack Brunetto faced off against Quance, but lost 184-65.
Quance said, “I’m thankful that the people of my district supported me, and for those who didn’t vote for me, I’m still going to do my best all the time to represent everybody in my district.”
She said it was nice to have a race ran on issues and ideas rather than personality.
For the next four years, Quance said, “We need to manage our growth. Make sure we don’t lose the smalltown flavor of Warsaw and the personableness that we have, the neighborness we have while we’re expanding. So we need to keep our older neighborhoods viable while we’re bringing in new people.”
Klondaris was picking up his election signs Tuesday night. He said he thought the results of the election were right along party lines.
“I’m pleased that the people who voted did vote. Everyone needs to exercise their right to vote to have a say. I’m thankful and grateful and I’m going to do this job for them. My goal is to leave a better place than when I came in, and that’s not to say it was bad, but you’ve got to pay it forward,” Klondaris said.
District 4 Councilman Jerry Frush and at-large members Cindy Dobbins and Jack Wilhite were unopposed. All were Republican.
Wilhite said going forward, the city council has a lot on tap to tackle.
“Going forward, I think three of our biggest items that we could possibly be trying to get accomplished is the airport – we need to make sure that gets taken care of so that our corporations have what they need to stay in the area; of course, affordable housing for regular working people, that’s going to be a challenge; and U.S. 30. Those are the three biggest hitters that we really need to spend some time on,” Wilhite said.
Dobbins said the council received some great information Monday night on the five-year comprehensive financial plan.
“So I’m really looking forward to digging into that and seeing if there are things that we can do a little bit better to save money and to also lower the tax rate for our taxpayers,” she said.
Thallemer and Clerk-Treasurer Lynne Christiansen were unopposed in the city race.
In Syracuse, the only contested race was for clerk-treasurer.
In the May Republican primary, incumbent Paula E. Kehr-Wicker held off challenger Virginia A. Cazier with about 61% of the vote. In Tuesday’s race, she held off Democrat challenger Tim Yeager 109-34.
“I’m very appreciative of all the voters that voted for me and all the voters that came out this last season,” Kehr-Wicker said. “I’m looking forward to serving my constituents for the next four years.”
This is her first term as clerk-treasurer, but she’s worked for the town since 2001.
In Claypool, Libertarian Patricia Warner beat Democrat Charlotte Lindley for clerk-treasurer 26-13, while incumbent and Democrat Niki Miller was defeated by Republican Benny R. Stage Jr. 28-15 for the Claypool Town Council North District seat.
“I was just pleased to see what the town decided and I look forward to giving my ideas and moving the town forward,” Stage said, thanking Miller for her service.
While serving on the council is all new to him, Stage said he wants to grow the town and see the townspeople get involved in growing the town because that’s been lacking.
In other contested races around the county, Republican Patricia Cook won the Etna Green clerk-treasurer race over Democrat Amanda Ewing; Republican Myra Mast won the Pierceton clerk-treasurer race over Libertarian Brian Hartman; and Democrat and incumbent Michael Searfoss defeated Republican Greg Anderson 48-17.
In the 25 precincts that had contested races for this general election Tuesday, voter turnout was 9.26%.
In the May primary, voter turnout for the county was 15.82%. It featured a heated race between Thallemer and Shoemaker for the mayor’s seat. The only contested Warsaw city council race in the primary was for the two at-large seats, with Dobbins and Wilhite winning over Juergen Voss.
Of the 11,677 eligible registered voters in Kosciusko County, only 1,334 – or 11.42 percent – cast their ballots in the Nov. 3, 2015, general election. The city of Warsaw had only one race that year, with Republicans Cindy Dobbins, incumbent, and Jack Wilhite beating out Democrat David Baumgartner.
Clerk of the Circuit and Superior Courts Ann Torpy wasn’t surprised with the less-than-10% turnout Tuesday.
“This election usually is lower for us. In 2015, in the primary, there was a Warsaw School referendum, so you really can’t judge that election. So this wasn’t uncommon to me,” Torpy said. “Some of them had better results than I thought they were going to have, based on how many phone calls we got. Usually, we’re on the phone a lot on election day answering calls and we just didn’t have that (today).”
She said she felt Tuesday’s turnout was “typical” and was what she expected. She did note that this time they had more absentee ballots than in 2015. She said there were 201 absentee ballots for Tuesday’s election, and in 2015 there were fewer than that.
Quance said, “I think sometimes people just take it for granted, like they just think the people they want are going to get in. Or, sometimes I think people are just so overwhelmed with life and they’re so busy just trying to make ends meet and getting through day to day that they’re not thinking about the bigger picture of government, and that kind of concerns me for our future because we need people to be interested in what’s going on.”
She said that’s why she was happy to have an opponent this fall – to give people a choice. “I think people should have a choice, and I think things should be discussed and I don’t think anybody should ever get complacent with where they are.”
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