Two New Members On R-9 Board; Local Use Tax Fails

The Trenton R-9 Board of Education has two new members while the Trenton City Council will have one new face following elections held on Tuesday.
Incumbent Kevin Bailey was re-elected to a three-year term on the R-9 Board while Brandon Gibler and Doug Franklin will be serving their first three-year term on the board. They were the top vote-getters from among four candidates for the three vacancies filled. Bailey finished the election with 434 votes while Gibler received 406 and Franklin received 386 votes. A fourth candidate, incumbent Dr. David Whitaker, finished fourth with 369 votes.
The new board members will receive their oath of office during a meeting of the school board scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on Monday, April 14 at the district office.
Chuck Elliott was re-elected to a two-year term on the Trenton City Council, defeating Walter “Wally” Smith, 73-58. It was the only one of four council positions to be filled. Allan Quilty was the write-in winner for the first ward council post while Kenneth Ewing and Larry Huffstutter won re-election without opposition in the second and fourth wards, respectively.
The newly-elected city council members will receive their oath of office during Monday night’s council meeting at 7 p.m. at Trenton City Hall.
In area elections in which there were races, Jeremy Turner, Megan DeWitt and Aaron Lewis were elected to the Tri-County R-7 Board from among a four-candidate field with 92, 89 and 56 votes respectively. Rich Neeley received 55 votes. Princeton R-5 selected Karla Meinke, Larry Pollard and Rick Ellsworth in a nine-candidate race. Ms. Meinke received 277 votes while Pollard received 230 votes and Ellsworth received 209 votes.
At Laredo, Carol Holloway was elected mayor, defeating incumbent Rebecca Burns, 41-11. Helen Golden (28) and Cassidy Bethards (26) were elected to the board of aldermen from among three candidates. Gary Reed received 25 votes.
There were 868 voters casting ballots in Grundy County, which represented 14 percent of those registered to vote. The county clerk’s office had projected a 12 to 15 percent turnout.
Uncontested races in which an election was required included:
Galt – Russell Searcy, north ward alderman and Tom Loghry, south ward alderman. Both are incumbents.
Spickard – incumbent Betty Lee, Jonine Jaycox and Patrica Payne.
Jamesport – Freida Gardner, south ward alderman, and Rob Murphy, north ward. Both are incumbents
Princeton – Kurt Meighen, mayor; Mike Greenlee, north ward councilman; George Scurlock, south ward councilman. All are incumbents.
Uncontested races in which an election was not required:
Grundy County Nursing Home Board of Directors – incumbents Barb Cox and Don Altes.
North Central Missouri College (six-year term) – incumbents Steve Busch and Dr. John Holcomb.
Grundy R-5 – Larry Cook, Abe Carver and Tyson Christy. Cook and Carver are incumbents.
Pleasant View R-6 – Jill Reeter and Tim Allen, both incumbents, and write-in Luke Gibson.
Spickard R-2 – Lindsay Glenn, Roger Bonnett and Kendall Nienhuser. Ms. Glenn and Bonnett are incumbents.
Laredo R-7 – Jim Marsh, Jason Meeker and Stephen Lowrey. All are incumbents.
Harrison County R-4 – Trent Brewer, Mike Ragan and Jesse Crump. Brewer and Ragan are incumbents.
Newtown-Harris – Chris Gibson, Jack Wells and Joni Oaks. Gibson and Wells are incumbents.
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Grundy County voters turned down a local use tax proposal, although the vote this time around was much closer than a year ago.
Meanwhile, Laredo R-7 voters approved continuation of a levy for another five years while the Spickard Road District also got the go-ahead to continue its tax.
The county local use tax proposal lost by just 19 votes, with 415 in favor and 434 proposed. That represented 48.88 percent voter backing. When the issue was on the ballot a year ago, the issue lost 522 in favor and 694 opposed, with just 42.9 percent in favor.
This issue was approved by voters in Harrison and Madison townships as well as the first and third wards of Trenton Township. There was a tie in the second ward while the fourth ward said no by a one-vote margin.
Laredo R-7 voters overwhelmingly approved continuation of a $1.40 levy for another five years. The measure was approved by district voters, 107-27. Money from the levy is used for maintenance, repairs, instruction materials and supplies, retention of staff and instructional programs as well as general operating expenses.
The Spickard Road District will continue assessment of its 35-cent levy for a four-year period. The vote was 15 in favor and eight opposed.