2021_YSNElectionGuide

440 456 456 456 456 441 442 443 YELLOW SPRINGS PRECINCTS AND POLLING LOCATION N ALL PREC INCTS vote at Antioch University Midwest’s Multipurpose Room. AUM is located at 900 Dayton St. VOTER’S H GUIDE A SPEC I AL PUBL I CAT ION of the YELLOW SPR I NGS NEWS ABOUT THIS GUIDE The 2021 Election Guide contains information about the local candidates and the local and county issues, including levies that will appear on the Nov. 2 ballot for Yellow Springs and Miami Town- ship. Candidates running for local office were invited to participate by submitting biographical information and answering three questions related to their contests. POLLING LOCATIONS All village voters living in precincts 440, 441, 442 and 443, and Miami Township residents living in precinct 455, will vote at Antioch University Midwest’s multipur- pose room. Antioch University Midwest is located at 900 Dayton St., Yellow Springs. Precinct 440 consists of most of the nor th side of town, and Precinct 441 includes the western par t of Yellow Springs. Precinct 442 consists of much of the central areas of the village and down- town. Precinct 443 includes the south end of Yellow Springs. Precinct 456 includes the western portion of Miami Township that surrounds Yellow Springs. Voters in Miami Township precinct 455, which includes the eastern part of the township, will vote at the Cedarville Bap- tist Church, 109 N. Main St., Cedarville. Voting times and dates remain the same as in recent years. Polls will be open on Tuesday, Nov. 2, 6:30 a.m.–7:30 p.m. ABSENTEE BALLOTS Absentee voting for the Nov. 2 elec- tion continues weekdays at the Greene County Board of Elections. The office is open 8 a.m.–7 p.m., Oct. 25–29, 8 a.m.– 4 p.m. Oct. 30, 1–5 p.m. Oct. 31 and 8 a.m.–2 p.m. Nov. 1. Voters applying for absentee ballots are no longer required to state a reason, but they will need to provide either their Ohio driver’s license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number. Absentee ballot requests must be mailed or dropped of f in person. The Greene County Board of Elections must receive requests by noon, Saturday, Oct. 30. For more information, contact the Greene County Board of Elections at 937-562-6170 or go online to www.boe.ohio.gov/greene. The board office is located at 551 Ledbet- ter Road, Xenia, OH 45385. RIDES AVAILABLE The Yellow Springs Senior Center, 227 Xenia Ave., will provide rides to polling locations for the elderly or disabled on a first-come, first-served basis. Registration is required by Friday, Oct. 29; register by calling the Senior Center at 937-767-5751. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Senior Center is requiring riders to disclose their vaccination status to ensure the safety of both riders and drivers. All riders will be required to wear a mask for the duration of the trip. COUNTY ISSUES I SSUE 1 Greene county Issue 1 is a levy for a 0.25% sales tax increase to pay for a new Greene County Jail. The proposed jail would replace the current Greene County Jail and the Adult Detention Center. The new facility would consist of a 384-bed jail, which exceeds the existing facilities’ capacity by two beds. Cost of the pro- posed jail is about $50 million. I SSUE 2 Greene County Issue 2 is a renewal levy for the construction, reconstruction, repair, resurfacing or removal of bridges in all of the subdivisions of Greene County. The rate for this tax is 0.25 mills, or $25 for each $100,000 of appraised valu- ation. If passed, the renewal will last for five years, commencing in 2021. SCHOOL LEVY I SSUE 18 Issue 18 proposes a combined income and property tax levy to build a new $35.6 million K–12 school on land owned by Yellow Springs Schools on East Enon Road and pay for continuing improvements. The measure calls for an income tax increase of 0.5% along with a 6.5-mill property tax. The income tax does not have an end date, and the property tax, amounting to an estimated $227.50 for each $100,000 of appraised proper ty valuation set by the auditor’s office, would extend for a maximum of 37 years. Voters will be asked to cast a single vote on the combined measure. 2021  CANDIDATE RACES *An asterisk denotes incumbent. MAYOR The office of Yellow Springs mayor is a four-year term. The News asked the can- didate to submit a short biography. PAM CONINE* I am a life-long edu- cator with a 42-year career teaching in public schools and at Antioch College and Antioch Univer- sity Midwest. After graduat ing f rom F i n d l a y H i g h School in 1969, I attended Miami University, moving to Yellow Springs in 1979 following five years of teaching social studies in Piqua, Ohio. Friends who lived in Yellow Springs con- vinced me it was a great place to live, and they were right. I spent over 30 years as an inter vention specialist, first at Morgan Middle School, and then at McKinney Middle School. Retiring in 2009, I accepted a full-time faculty position at Antioch Uni- versity Midwest working with future teach- ers, retiring from there in 2015. One of the classes I taught throughout my tenure in Yellow Springs Schools was current issues. Finding the sweet spot where current events came together in the intersection of histor y, geography, politics and social issues made for lively activities in a middle school classroom. Fun and interesting stuf f! Retirement allowed me to shift my attention from the classroom to the practi- calities of everyday life in our village. The organization of our village government always intrigued me because of its unique nature. Village Council serves as both the executive and legislative branches of government, but by Village charter, they have delegated many of the executive chores to the Village manager. The mayor, on the other hand, administers the judicial branch in the form of Mayor’s Cour t, while per forming ceremonial duties as well. That job description appealed to me, and I decided to make a run for it. My platform included the overarching goal of being an active and visible mayor. One way I wanted to do this was to add what I called an educational component, offering to visit local classrooms and interact with students in all grades, sharing the intrica- cies of their local government, in addition to the specific office of mayor. For the first two years, I was a regular at Mills Lawn, reading with the kindergar ten classes, tutoring in fourth and sixth grades and visit-