By Kimberly Gasuras
The Bucyrus City Council will have some new faces in the new year.
Incumbent Garnet “Sis” Love will keep her position as city council president after winning the position over newcomer, Kurt Fankhauser, by 23 votes.
Love said she is relieved after the close election and is looking forward to her new term.
Incumbents Dan Wirebaugh and Mark Makeever also won their council-at-large seats although it was a close race between Wirebaugh, who received 898 votes, and newcomer, Jeff Norman, who received 888 votes.
“I just want to thank the citizens for re-electing me and to let them know that this is just the beginning of two more years of fighting for them,” said Wirebaugh.
Newcomer Kevin Myers received 1,264 votes to win his seat as a council-at-large member, beating out current council member and former Bucyrus Mayor Dan Ross and Cheryl Sipe.
Myers said he is excited to start his new term in January.
“I am grateful for the support of the Bucyrus community. There are a lot of great things going on in Bucyrus, and I’m excited and honored to be a part of the team to continue to lead us in the right direction,” Myers said. “It is my goal to serve the city and its residents by being committed to growth, attracting new business and new residents, and making sure our safety forces are the best they can be.”
Bruce Truka, council member for the city’s first ward, was the only incumbent to run unopposed.
Monica Sack was re-elected to the city’s second ward council seat, winning over Dillinger’s Entertainment Center and Restaurant owner, Shawn Ridgeway.
Along with Myers, Doug Foght will be another new face on council after he beat out incumbent Bill O’Rourke in the third-ward race, garnering 633 of the votes to O’Rourke’s 202.
In the fourth-ward, all candidates were write-ins. Incumbent Steve Pifer won with 61 votes with Andrew Schoch receiving 56 votes and James Seigneur receiving three votes.
Jane Cremeans will continue in her position as the city’s treasurer after running unopposed.
Provisional ballots will be verified and tallied when the Crawford County Board of Elections meets in 10 days to complete the official count.