LISBON — This year’s general election for Columbiana County voters was all about local races for townships, municipalities, school boards and levies.

Voters in the Beaver Local School District decided to retain the incumbents, but when it came to Southern Local’s Board of Education, it was not that simple in unofficial results.

Four incumbents were running for three seats at Southern Local. Leading the way was James Scott Hart, who received 28.7 percent of the vote, followed by Robert Kip Dowling with 24.4 percent, according to incomplete and unofficial results from the Columbiana County Board of Elections.

Two of the people with the longest tenures on the board, John Sawyer and Linda Morris, have only two votes separating them. Sawyer has 23.48 percent of the vote and Morris has 23.39 percent.

The board of elections will wait until Nov. 18 to do the official certification of the results, giving time for additional provisional ballots to surface and be counted. If the margin remains two votes, which is less than the one half of one percent of the votes, the race could lead to a recount.

In addition, Southern Local will add Karl C. Blissenbach to the board. Blissenbach ran unopposed for an unexpired term seat that ends on Dec. 31, 2023. Blissenbach has been serving on the board of the Utica Shale Academy.

“Thank you to all who voted to keep Southern Local moving in the right direction,” Hart said.

MORE SCHOOLS

At Beaver Local, the two incumbents ran away with the race. Jerry Barnett led with 33.9 percent, while Greg Eisenhart received 33.2 percent. The challengers, Richard B. Saphore and Wynton L. Rayford, received 19.7 percent and 13.2 percent, respectively.

The West Branch school board will have two new members come January. Residents on Tuesday elected David Yaggi and Joe Courtwright to the board, along with incumbent Bryan Hobbins. Incumbent Courtney Stryffeler finished off the race in fourth. West Branch includes portions of Mahoning, Columiana and Stark counties.

In the South Range school district in Mahoning County, residents selected the two incumbents, Brian Bagwell and Terri Lally, along with Liz Johnson. Sean Wardle finished fourth. Residents also elected Shelly Colucci to complete the unexpired term over Richard Ferenchak.

LOCAL LEADERS

In Goshen Township in Mahoning County, residents re-elected the two incumbents for trustee, Teresa Stratton and John Bricker. Former trustee Bob McCracken ran third.

Lisbon voters chose to retain the three incumbents on village council with the addition of Melissa Hiner.

In a race of six people competing for four seats, current councilman Jerry Cox led the vote with 20 percent, followed by Hiner with 18.6 percent, Susan Temple with 16.3 percent and Tom Darcy with 15.6 percent.

On the outside looking in were challengers Don Grimm with 14.8 percent and Tammy Roberts with 14.6 percent.

The newcomer, Hiner, said she wanted to thank all of the supporters and friends and family.

“I think I have some fresh ideas,” Hiner said, adding that her priority is to find additional revenue and prioritize projects and expenses to do the best the village can do with the limited resources it has. “I will find the revenue that I promised to find. I know there’s money out there we’re not getting.”

Cox, Darcy and Temple bring more than a dozen years of experience between them back to council chambers with Darcy having more than eight alone.

Longtime Salem Township Trustees John Wilms and William Heston beat back four challengers to remain in office another four years.

“We just want to thank all the people that turned out to vote. Myself and Wilms, we tried to run a very clean campaign,” Heston said Tuesday night.

At one point, Joe Merritt was ahead of Heston, but then the final precinct reported, he beat Merritt by 18 votes in the final tally.

The year proved tumultuous at times, with residents challenging the trustees regarding Constable Dan Valentine’s arrest for theft and subsequent plea to a lesser charge, along with accusations about what happened when he worked for Beaver Township. They were also challenged about not making use of COVID-19 money.

When asked what made the difference in the race, Heston said: “I think people realized that we were trying to do a good job for the residents. We did everything according to what the prosecutor’s office told us.”

He also noted there was a lot of support for Valentine from other residents.

“We try to get the most for every dollar we spend,” Heston said.

Wilms, 76, has been a trustee since 1986. Heston, 77, has been a trustee since 2000.

In East Liverpool’s most heated local race, a political newcomer scored an upset over an incumbent council person in the 1st Ward.

In the battle of the businessmen, Tom Beagle defeated Ray Perorazio, 64.49 percent to 35.51 percent out of the 245 votes cast in unofficial results released on the Columbiana County board of elections’ website.

Beagle had very few words beyond “it is time to get to work.”

His win over Perorazio ends an era in East End politics, where Perorazio, a retired firefighter had become accustomed to facing opponents.

Beagle is the co-owner of Power Fitness and a former city building inspector.

One of the most pressing issues at the center of this race was the city’s tax collection vehicle. While Perorazio wanted to continue doing it internally, Beagle advocates giving the Regional Income Tax Agency a look, as Mayor Greg Bricker suggests.

Since the city has brought John Gamble on as assistant city law director to handle its tax collection cases, East Liverpool has seen a sizable increase in tax revenue.

In the East Liverpool city treasurer race, write-in candidate Deb Fickes defeated another write-in candidate, Terry Sprague, 52 percent to 48 percent out of the 252 votes cast.

ISSUES

In New Waterford, an income tax levy providing $150,000 to address resident concerns about expanding coverage from police officers and speeding up response times for EMS services failed Tuesday with 133 votes, 60 percent voting against the capital improvements levy.

Making the levy permanent would have prevented layoffs and staff shortages, officials said.

But voters in Butler Township and the Northwest Fire District of Salem Township both said yes to giving more money to support fire protection services.

Butler Township voters overwhelmingly supported an additional .75-mill, five-year emergency services levy with 72 percent in favor to 28 percent against.

In the Salem Township Northwest Fire District, the vote was a little closer but still convincingly in favor of an additional 1-mill, five-year levy, with 63 percent in favor to 37 percent against.

In the Northwest Fire District, the additional taxes raised will help cover rising costs for the Winona Fire Department, which is contracted through Salem Township to cover the northwest part of the township.

The Northwest Fire District covers an area from state Route 45 to Depot Road, going from Foxden Drive to Miller Road. The levy is expected to generate an additional $20,100 per year for the district.

The additional levy for Butler Township emergency services is expected to generate an additional $60,000 per year to help cover costs for the Winona and Damascus fire departments, which both serve the township.

Voters in both Butler Township and Salem Township also overwhelmingly renewed road levies.

Perry Township voters continued their support of the township police department by renewing a police levy. More than 80 percent of the voters said yes to renew the levy.

In Green Township residents approved the renewal of a 1.5-mill levy for current expenses for five years. The levy generates $130,279 per year.

LIQUOR

Two local liquor options in Salem won the approval of voters in their particular precincts.

Salem Suburban Market won approval for Sunday sales.

Salem Circle K, which is located in Green Township in Mahoning County, won approval for both weekday and Sunday sales.

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