Voters in Kalamazoo, Portage and Parchment elected leaders Tuesday. Kalamazoo County voters also renewed — and slightly increased — a transit millage by a wide margin, while Portage voters approved a school bond.
Kalamazoo County: local elections and a transit millage
In Kalamazoo County, voters passed a proposed transit millage renewal with a slight increase. The millage funds bus and other transit service through the Central County Transportation Authority (CCTA). Complete unofficial results indicate the millage passed with 67.60 % of the vote.
The tax will be in effect for five years, at a rate of up to 1.1 mills or $1.10 per $1,000 of taxable value. The previously-authorized transit millage was 0.9 mills.
See Kalamazoo County results from the clerk-register's office.
City of Kalamazoo: mayor’s race and city commission
Kalamazooans elected a mayor and three city commissioners Tuesday.
Incumbent mayor David Anderson, who has served on the city commission since 2005 according to his biography on the League of Women Voters’ vote411 guide, was first elected mayor in 2019. Anderson ran against two challengers, Chris Glasser and Robert E. Gray.
Anderson won the mayoral race with 64.34% of the vote.
Ten people ran for three seats on the seven-member Kalamazoo City Commission: Kizzy N. Bradford, Soloman J. Carpenter, Bernard Dervan III, Keshia Dickason, Drew Duncan, Thomas Durlach, Stephanie Hoffman, Sara L. Schlack, Jaqueline Slaby and Jessica Thompson.
Hoffman was the only incumbent among the candidates.
Duncan, Hoffman and Slaby won the seats. Duncan received the highest percentage of the vote at 21.16%, Hoffman retained her seat with 17.87% of the vote, and Slaby received 16.67% of the vote.
Portage: mayor’s race, city council elections and a school bond proposal
In Portage, incumbent mayor Patricia Randall ran against former Portage City Council member and Kalamazoo County Commissioner Nasim Ansari.
Randall won the race with 61.66% of the vote.
Randall has served as mayor for eight years and was a council member for eight years as well, according to her vote411 statement.
Seven candidates ran for three open seats on the seven-seat Portage City Council: incumbent Victor Ledbetter, Mark McKeon, Jason Mikkelborg, Kathleen Olmsted, incumbent Terry R. Urban, Jay Woodhams and incumbent Jihan Ain Young.
Young, Olmsted and Ledbetter won the three seats. Incumbents Ledbetter and Young received the highest percentage of the votes, Ledbetter with 19.32% and Young with 17.91%. Olmsted received 15.20% of the vote, beating incumbent Terry Urban for the third seat up for election on the council.
Portage Public Schools residents voted on a $132.4 million bond proposal for school improvements across the district.
The proposal passed with 62.88% of the vote.
Parchment: Parchment residents elected a mayor and three other members of its city commission. The candidates were incumbent mayor Robert D. Britigan III, Kristen Capelli, incumbent Michael E. Conner, incumbent Tammy Cooper, Genevieve Gibson, Nina R. Mihalek and Elizabeth June Seeger.
Britigan won reelection as mayor with 24.53% of the vote. Conner, Capelli, and Cooper won the other seats.
Other Kalamazoo County proposals
Like Portage, the Comstock, Galesburg-Augusta, and Parchment schools had bond proposals on the ballot, and Richland Community Library had a millage proposal.
The Richland Community Library millage was the only one of these proposals to pass; 61.47% of voters supported it.
