11 candidates vie for offices
- Published: September 1, 2011
Well past the filing deadline for the Nov. 8 local elections, 11 candidates are officially seeking election for offices in the village. While several candidates have registered to fill uncontested positions on the school board, as Village mayor and as Miami Township fiscal officer, those running for Village Council and Miami Township board of trustees will have to contend for their seats.
The two candidates running for one seat on the Township Board of Trustees are John Eastman and incumbent Chris Mucher. Eastman is a village native who works as a chief environmental engineer at LJB Inc. in Dayton and has frequently served as a consultant engineer for the Village of Yellow Springs. Eastman has previously run unsuccessfully for local and state offices under the Natural Law Party ticket. Mucher was appointed as a trustee in 1999 to fill a vacancy and was then elected to the same position in 2000. He is currently running for his fifth term as Township trustee. The winning candidate will join long-time trustees Mark Crockett and Lamar Spracklen for a four-year term on the board.
Five candidates are running this year for three seats on Village Council. Villagers Gerald Simms, Shane Creepingbear and Dan Reyes will join incumbents Lori Askeland and Rick Walkey on the ballot. After serving one term, current Council member John Booth has decided not to run again.
Long-time village resident Simms retired from the finance and facilitation department at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and currently serves on Community Resources and has formerly served on the local visioning committee, the Human Relations Commission and the school board. Creepingbear is an Antioch College graduate who works in the admissions office at Antioch College and plans to start a local brewery.
Reyes works as a part-time architecture professor at Miami University and helped to start the Nonstop Liberal Arts Institute. He also served on the Village Design Advisory Committee. Walkey has served a two-year term on Council, while Askeland has served a four-year term.
The two candidates with the highest number of votes will serve four-year terms on Council, while the third highest vote getter will serve a two-year term. They will join current Council members Judith Hempfling and Karen Wintrow.
Running for two uncontested seats on the school board are Sylvia Ellison and incumbent Sean Creighton. Ellison teaches public health at Wright State University and has served on several staff search committees and the Safe Routes to School committee. Creighton was elected to the school board in 2007 and has served as president of the board for a year. The two candidates will join current board members Aïda Merhemic, Benji Maruyama and Angela Wright for four-year terms.
Also up for uncontested election are Mayor David Foubert running again for an 11th term after 20 years in his position, and Margaret Silliman, who is running for her fourth four-year term as Miami Township fiscal officer.
Three Greene County issues are also on the November ballot this year for Yellow Springs and Miami Township voters. Issue 14 supports the renewal of a 0.75-mill five-year permanent improvement levy for the Greene County Career Center. Issue 15 asks to renew the 0.5-mill five-year operating levy for Greene Memorial Hospital. Issue 16 is a resolution proposed by the Greene County Board of Commissioners to begin a Governmental Electricity Aggregation Program, which would allow the county to join other areas in a power purchase agreement to solicit the lowest price for the group’s electricity needs.
Statewide, local voters will also decide on three ballot issues:
• Issue 1 is a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would increase the maximum age for assuming judicial office from 70 to 75; eliminate the General Assembly’s authority to establish courts of conciliation; and eliminate the governor’s authority to appoint members to a Supreme Court Commission.
• Issue 2, if passed, would ratify Ohio’s Senate Bill 5, which was initiated earlier this year and limits the collective bargaining rights for Ohio’s public employees and bans their ability to strike.
• Issue 3 is a proposed constitutional amendment that would relieve any person or employer from being forced to participate in a health care system or prohibit or penalize the purchase or sale of health care or health insurance. It was placed on the ballot by a coalition of Tea Party and other groups that oppose the Obama administration’s healthcare reform law.
Voter registration for the upcoming election ends Oct. 11. For information on how to register, visit or call the Greene County Board of Elections at http://www.co.greene.oh.us/BOE/BOE_Voter_Information.asp or 562-6170.
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