Ravenna voters cast ballots for the status quo
Ravenna voters cast their ballots for the status quo on Tuesday, returning council members to office, keeping veteran Board of Education members in place and supporting renewal levies for area schools.
In Ravenna Township, veteran Trustee Vince Coia was returned to office, along with James DiPaola, who had served as the township's zoning inspector and once worked as Ravenna's fire chief.
In the city council race, council members Amy Michael, Cheryl Wood and Paul Moskun survived challenges from a field of candidates, all of whom sought appointment to council last year.
Michael, a 12-year veteran of council seeking her fourth term, led the pack of at-large candidates, with 1,023 votes, according to complete but unofficial election results from the Portage County Board of Elections. Cheryl Wood, appointed last year to a post once held by Council President Andrew Kluge, was second, keeping her seat with 792 votes. Challengers Deena Tannert and Tyler Marovich trailed, with 553 votes for Tannert and 398 votes for Marovich. Tannert ran for council two years ago, and both she and Marovich sought the seat to which Wood was appointed.
In Ward 1, the race between incumbent Paul Moskun and Mark Hairston was neck and neck throughout the vote count, but Moskun came out ahead by just 13 votes, getting 134 votes to 121 for Hairston. Moskun was elected to the seat four years ago. Hairston also sought appointment to Wood's seat in 2020, and served on Ravenna's Board of Education in the 1990s. Rob Kairis ran unopposed in Ward 2.
In the board of education race, where 7 people were seeking 3 seats, Joan Seman, a veteran board member who is married to the city's mayor, led the field of seven candidates, with 1,488 votes. Second and third were Mike Tontimonia, another board veteran, with 1,331 votes, and Patricia Dennison, with 1,255, who was appointed to the board in the spring..
Challengers LaTesha Dukes had 905 votes, Fred Walz III had 716 votes, Wesley Ransom had 688 and Dirk Remley had 467.
Coia had 722 votes in the Ravenna Township trustee race, and DiPaola had 574, according to the election results. Michael Wisniewski, who serves on the school district's board of education, came in third with 498 votes. DiPaola will succeed longtime Trustee Patsy Artz, who is not seeking another term.
Issue 25, a renewal levy for permanent improvements in the Ravenna district, was approved, 1,872 to 979. Issue 29, a renewal for the Maplewood Career Center, was approved by a margin of 11,943 to 6,959. Maplewood, located in Ravenna Township, serves students from a wide area of Portage County, all of whom voted on the levy.
Reporter Diane Smith can be reached at dsmith@recordpub.com.
This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Ravenna voters cast ballots for the status quo
