Bellwood Borough residents had four seats to fill on the Bellwood Borough Council yesterday as they visited the poles. Vying for the position were current council members Susanne Johnson and Fred Sweigert. Joining them on the ballot was Thomas Lechner, Earl Garber and Tod Martin.
Unofficial results show that in the end, Johnson and Sweigert will retain their seats on council and will be joined by sole Democratic candidate Thomas Lechner and write-in candidate, David Cherry.
Johnson garnered over 21 percent of the votes with 224, followed by Cherry with 169 votes and Sweigert at 168 votes. Lechner received 160 votes to gain a seat on council.
Garber’s 154 votes and Martin’s 121 votes were not enough to earn them a position.
Other write-in candidates receiving votes were Herbert Shelow with 133 and Eileen Newberry with 125.
Lechner and Cherry will fill the seats of Wayne Snare and Don Walker. Snare did not receive enough votes during the primary to move on and Walker chose not to run for reelection.
As for Bellwood’s Mayor, current mayor, James C. Bonsell will retain his position having received 99.7 percent of the votes. Mayor Bonsell first stepped into office in 1983, filling the unexpired term of Paul Hanna. Bonsell held the office for over 10 years, through 1994. He was then elected to office for another term in 2002 and will continue his position after yesterday’s poll results.
The position of Bellwood’s tax collector went to Loueen Grazier, the sole candidate.
In Antis Township, two positions were open on the Board of Supervisors. Current Chairman of the Board Raymond E. Amato was up for reelection, appearing on the Republican ballot yesterday. Joining him was Republican Robert “Bob” Smith.
Amato received 53 percent of the votes with a total of 1,054 to maintain his seat on the board. Smith also received enough votes with 889 and will join current supervisors Amato, Charles Taylor and Robert Hornberger.
There is still one supervisor position that will need to be filled after the passing of Dr. Robert Walker, earlier this week. The board will have to appoint an individual to fill Dr. Walker’s position until his term expires.
Antis Township’s tax collector position will be filled by Susan E. Kensinger who ran unopposed.
Four seats were filled yesterday on the Bellwood-Antis School Board. Current members, John E. Shaffer Jr., Lisa Kovac, Linda Cherry and Dennis Minori all retained their seats on the board.
