Lima News
OTTAWA, Ohio — A potentially contentious issue in Putnam County received strong support in Tuesday’s general election.
Voters approved a 0.65 mill levy for emergency medical services. Despite the initial uncertainty of its passage heading into the election, 59 percent of the county approved the measure, according to Tuesday’s unofficial results.
“The voters thought it was important for safety,” Putnam County Commissioner Travis Jerwers said. “Now we’ll just see how it works getting it into our budget. The people of Putnam County thought that safety was a top priority, and they made their voices heard tonight.”
This passage will pave the way for the hiring of a new paramedic and emergency medical technician, as well as providing additional incentives for volunteers.
“The thing is, we need the EMS,” said Ottawa resident Jack Myers. “I’m not a big tax voter, but I supported this.”
The hope is to improve response times to emergency calls throughout the county.
“I supported it,” said Brent Schafer, owner of the Pizzeria in downtown Ottawa. “I don’t usually like to vote for new taxes, but this is an exception.”
Traffic at the Putnam County YMCA polling station was slow but steady even into the evening hours of Tuesday’s election, even as pundits were predicting a slow day at the polls.
“We heard it was going to be a quiet election,” Myers said. “But here in Ottawa, we had some contested city council seats, so I figured I had something to say about that.”
With three seats up for grabs on Ottawa’s village council, unofficial results showed incumbent David Beckett receiving the fewest votes of the five contenders, with Jeff Ducey, John Salsburey and fellow incumbent Timothy Macke rounding out the top three. Mark Schmiedebusch trailed Macke by just 13 votes. Until additional absentee and provisional votes are counted, the Putnam County Board of Elections wasn’t ready to clearly declare a winner.
The county was equally generous to the other levies and issues placed on this year’s ballot, with renewals and replacements dominating the levy ranks. Cloverdale, Glandorf, Jackson Township and Jennings Township each passed levies to cover current expenses. Cloverdale’s levy is for four years, while the others will be in effect for five.
Gilboa and Leipsic each had two levies on the ballot, all of which passed Tuesday. Both of Gilboa’s levies will cover the village’s current expenses, while Leipsic’s levies will go to expenses and for fire protection.
Other areas benefiting from levy passages include Monroe Township, with a 1.5 mill replacement levy for fire protection; Monterey Township, with a 1 mill replacement levy for roads; and Union Township, with a 0.5 mill additional levy for fire protection and EMS.
Changes to Ottawa’s village charter were approved by a 70 percent to 30 percent margin, despite the fact that several voters were unclear on what exactly the changes would be. The changes clarified some language in the event the mayor’s seat was vacant.
“I didn’t know what the changes were going to be, so I voted no,” Deb Myers said.
Another hotly contested race was in Ottawa Township, where seven candidates were vying for two available trustee positions. Tuesday’s unofficial results showed Don Croy and incumbent Steven Leopold winning the two positions. Leopold holds a 74-vote advantage over third-place finisher Dean Rosengarten.
Many of the other contested races, including Greensburg Township, Jackson Township, Monroe Township and Union Township’s trustee races, as well as Glandorf and Pandora’s village council races are also very close after tallying Tuesday’s votes.
Shelly Burkhart, assistant director of the Putnam County Board of Elections, was hesitant to comment on any of the races before including all of the county’s votes. Because there are still some absentee and provisional ballots to be counted, the Putnam County Board of Elections reported final totals of all the races will not be available until Nov. 19.
“We really don’t want to speak to the possibility of a recount until we include all of our absentee and provisional ballots,” she said.
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