By Susan Bromley

Staff Writer

Local village council races will be competitive this fall.

The election filing deadline to be placed as a candidate on the November ballot for the Ortonville and Goodrich village councils, as well as for the Brandon and Goodrich school boards, was Tuesday. The number of candidates for each school board matches exactly the number of spots available, virtually assuring who will be in the seats next year. However, voters will have several candidates from which to choose to fill council trustee seats.

In Ortonville, incumbents Debbie Baker, Dan Eschmann and Courtney McClerren all filed to run again for a 4-year term as village council trustees, facing newcomers Mark Butzu, Bernard A. McHugh, Karen Sleva and James A. Webb. There are only three seats available.

Wayne Wills is also seeking another 2-year term in his current position as council president and will be unopposed on the ballot, as will Keith Dylus, who is seeking a 2-year partial term for trustee that ends Nov. 19, 2018. Dylus was appointed to the seat in December after Liz Waters left the position to take an appointment to the Brandon Township Board.

“This is the highest number of candidates we’ve had for village council trustee in a long time,” said Brandon Township Elections Coordinator Karen McArthur of the 4-year candidates for council. “We struggle to get enough people to run, but seven for three positions— I don’t remember ever seeing that many. I think it’s great there’s an interest in the village.”

She added that the number of candidates who filed for the open Brandon School Board seats— four to fill the four vacancies— is normal. Appearing on the ballot will be incumbents John Chartier, Lisa Kavalhuna, and Kevin McClellan, joined by newcomer Marianne Dwyer. Incumbent Chris Yuchasz is not seeking reelection for one of the four-year terms.

In Goodrich, where two 6-year school board trustee terms are available, there are also only enough candidates to fill the seats, assuring the election of incumbent Linda Jackson and returning former school board member Howard Schultz. Tim Zirnhelt is not seeking reelection after 14 years on the board.

The Goodrich Village Council will have plenty of competition for three open trustee seats. Appearing on the November ballot will be Colin Consiglio, Wendy Ciaramitaro, Timothy Barraco, Timothy Light, former trustee Richard Saroli, and incumbent Shannon McCafferty. Pete Morey and Richard Horton are not seeking reelection. The top two vote-getters will each get four year terms, from Jan. 1, 2017-Dec. 31, 2021. The candidate who receives the third highest number of votes will have a two year term, Jan. 1, 2017-Dec. 31, 2019.

McArthur is expecting a large turnout in November, but a lower turnout for this Tuesday’s primary election.

“We’ve received less absentee ballots back than the past few primaries,” she said on Wednesday. “We’ve gotten maybe 900, where in the past we’ve averaged about 1,100. We have the lowest amount of trustees running at the township level in 35 years.”

There are four seats available for Brandon Township trustee, a four-year term. Five trustee candidates will appear on the November ballot regardless of what happens at the Aug. 2 polls since there are four Republican candidates and one Democrat for the seats. The supervisor and treasurer races will be decided on Tuesday, not in November, since only Republicans are running. Incumbent Kathy Thurman and current Trustee Jayson Rumball are competing for supervisor. Incumbent Terri Darnall and newcomer Susan Hollingshead are competing for treasurer. Clerk Candee Allen is seeking reelection and is unopposed.

In Groveland Township, Supervisor Bob DePalma will have no opposition on Tuesday’s primary ballot, but in November, will face off against Steven Hoffman, who filed under no party affiliation. Christopher Johnesee has also filed under no party affiliation for a trustee seat and will appear on the November ballot along with Merilyn McGee and Dale Cason. There are two trustee seats available. Clerk Pam Mazich and Treasurer David Ax are seeking reelection to their seats and are unopposed.

“I don’t think we’ve ever had anyone run as non-party affiliated candidate before,” said Mazich. “I think it’s harder to beat an incumbent and it’s hard to beat an incumbent who has a good record serving in their position, but of course, this is part of the American voting process. This allows voters to choose candidates of their choice. The record still holds that Groveland Township votes very strongly Republican.”

In the last three elections, in August and November 2014, as well as the March primary this year, Groveland Township votes were weighted between 70-74 percent Republican and between 26-30 percent Democrat.