Local elections yield few surprises

(11/9) Carroll Valley, Fairfield and Hamiltonban incumbents held their own in the November 8 election, but the Fairfield Borough Council only had two registered candidates run for the four seats open.

Residents of Fairfield cast 259 votes in the election, with 35.91 percent (93 votes) going to incumbent Republican Patricia T. Smith and 34.75 percent (90) going to incumbent Republican Carroll B. Smith, Jr.

Fairfield voters also cast 76 write-ins representing 29.34 percent of the votes cast. The leading two write-in candidates included incumbents Phyllis Gilbert with 34 votes and Amelia Rodriguez with 33 votes, amounting to their re-election through write-ins.

All of the council seats that were filled are four-year terms.

Fairfield also has a fifth unfilled (two-year) seat which had been vacated by former Councilman Ronald Shacks when he and his family moved to Tennessee. That vacancy occurred after the borough had filed with the county election board, and will be filled by appointment.

Also in Fairfield, Tracy Paul (R) was elected borough tax collector with 106 (98.15 of the votes cast), while there were two write-in votes for that position. Voters cast 108 votes regarding that position

In Carroll Valley Borough, no incumbent council member was displaced, although a new face joined the council in replacement of Frank Buhrman, who did not run for re-election.

The Carroll Valley Borough Council had four, four-year term seats open.

Incumbents Neal E. Abrams (R) received 302 votes, or 26.61 percent of the votes cast, Tammy Lytle (R) received 273 votes, or 24.05 percent of the votes cast, and William K. Reinke (NPA) received 244 votes, or 21.50 percent of the votes cast.

Newly elected council member Janis Ashman (R) received 300 votes, or 26.43 percent of the votes cast.

There were a total of 1,135 cast for those seats, including 16 write ins.

In addition, Phyllis Doyle (R), with 325, defeated Donna DesPres (D), with 149 votes, for borough tax collector. There were also five write-ins for that position.

The Hamiltonban Township Board of Supervisors had two six-year terms open and one two-year term. A total of 861 votes were cast for the six-year seats and 404 votes were cast for the two-year seat.

Incumbents prevailed in all cases, with Bob Gordon (R/D) garnering 310 votes, or 36 percent of the votes cast. Coleen Reamer (D) received 261 votes, or 30.31 percent of the votes cast

Challenger Edward Deardorff (R) , a former member of the board of supervisors, was defeated with 225 votes, or 26.13 percent of the votes cast. There were also 65 write-in votes for the six-year board seats.

Incumbent Harry Rood (R/D) maintained his two-year seat, which was contested only by 41 write-in votes. He received 363 votes or 89.85 percent of the 404 votes cast for that position.