Public water supply districts combine
By Stan Schwartz
Vandalia Mayor Ralph Kuda Jr. was re-elected in the April 2 election. Kuda was running unopposed. This will be his sixth term as mayor. The Audrain County Clerk released the unofficial results of the election. The final numbers still have to be verified.
Members of Public Water Supply District No. 1 and No. 2 overwhelmingly voted to consolidate the two water districts.
In other races for Vandalia, Larry J. Shaw ran unopposed for Ward I alderman. In Ward II, Janet Turner ran unopposed for alderman. And in Ward III, John Weiser ran unopposed. All three were voted in for two-year terms in office.
In Farber, Lynn A. Flowers ran unopposed for alderman.
Laddionia’s alderman race had four candidates running for two open positions as aldermen. Travis Lybarger won one of those spots with 32.56% of the votes. And, Dwayne Houge won with 29.46% of the vote.
In Mexico, Chris B. Miller and Vicki Briggs won their contested race for two positions on the City Council.
For Van-Far R-I School District, two candidates won positions on the Board of Education—Ryan Schuckenbrock won with 40.66% of the votes and Pete Nasier earned 36.54% of the votes.
In the Community R-VI School District race, Scott Sims won with 44.57% of the vote, and Amy Brooks won with 47.10% of the vote.
For the Wellsville-Middletown R-I School District, Danielle L. Freie and Christine Rutherford were voted onto the Board of Education.
Also for Wellsville-Middletown, the bond election proposition KIDS, was resoundingly rejected by voters, with 86.67% saying no. The proposition had asked voters to allow the school district to borrow $2.7 million to complete district-wide improvements to the elementary school and high school.
Michelle Stephens and Chris Williams received the majority of votes for positions on Mexico No. 59 School Board for three-year terms. Lennette Brown won a two-year term on the board.
The Mexico proposition, Paws for Progress, passed with 67.98% of voters saying yes. The proposition is to increase the current debt service property tax levy to borrow $21 million for a host of repairs and upgrades to the school buildings in the district.
In other races, Steve Curtis won with 60.05% of the votes for a four-year term as an Emergency 911 Western District board member. Kyle Fischer ran unopposed for Vandalia special road commissioner. Also, voters said yes, 70.11%, to continue for another four years a levy of 35 cents per $100 assessed property valuation for the Vandalia Special Road District.