Gottman wins; St. Elmo, Brownstown get new mayors
Rick Gottman received two-thirds of the vote in gaining a third term as Vandalia’s mayor. But the incumbent mayors in Brownstown and St. Elmo were defeated.
Also in Tuesday’s election, the consolidation of the St. Elmo and Brownstown school districts was approved in St. Elmo, but rejected in Brownstown, meaning that the measure failed.
Gottman received 886 votes, easily outdistancing his two challengers, Neil Clark (299) and John D. Wehrle Jr. (156).
In the only contested aldermanic race in Vandalia, Dean Black was elected to the Ward II seat to which he was appointed late last year. Black received 202 votes, Roger Hill placed second with 89 votes and Robert Bell received 43 votes.
In St. Elmo, Jayson Porter, who was appointed to the mayoral seat in December 2007, was defeated by Larry Tish. Tish received 349 votes to Porter’s 140.
In the contest for a Ward I seat on the St. Elmo City Council, Michael D. McCall received 78 votes to lead the pack of three candidates. James D. Russell received 33 votes, and Rita Davis received 32 votes.
In Ward III, Chris Worman, a former mayor, defeated the incumbent, Stormy Dilley, 111-59.
In Brownstown, Billy "B.J." Deal defeated Chuck Fitch, 152-54. Fitch was seeking a second term in office.
In the school consolidation vote, St. Elmo residents supported the measure, 622, 370, but Brownstown rejected the proposal, 373-339.
In Vandalia Township, Republican Beverly Daniels defeated Democrat Leon Bowen by 12 votes, 812-800, in the supervisor’s race. Daniels succeeds her husband, Gene, who chose not to seek re-election after holding the supervisor post for 20 years.
Republican Tony Draege was re-elected road commissioner, defeating Democrat Cody Miller, 874-723.
Republicans Boyd Ledbetter and Donald Bernhardt were unopposed in their bids for re-election to the clerk and assessor posts, respectively.
In the race for four trustee seats, winners were Democrats Randy Braun and Deb Brantley, and Republicans Gary Ehrat and Max Reuscher.
