WEST OLIVE, MI (WHTC-AM/FM) – In a limited Tuesday Primary Election, one Holland City Councilman lost his seat, while two communities said no to ballot proposals.
Third Ward Councilman Brian Burch’s hopes for a third four-year term apparently ended when he lost to challenger Raul Garcia. By picking up 298 of the 408 ballots cast, Garcia passed the 50 percent-plus-one threshhold to claim the seat without the need for a general election race. Burch garnered 68 votes, while another challenger, Tim Marroquin, collected 62 votes. The only contested race in the City of Holland on November 7 will be for mayor between incumbent Nancy DeBoer and Second Ward Councilman Jay Peters.
Meanwhile, the effort by outgoing Spring Lake Village President Joyce Verplank-Hatton to have her community be disincorporated failed, as voters there rejected a ballot question that would have started this legal mechanism by a margin of nearly two to one (556 against to 325 for). Verplank-Hatton, who ran for and won her seat last fall with this objective as the main plank on her platform, announced on Monday her resignation, effective on Wednesday.
Blendon Township voters rejected a five-year, 2.5-mill reqest that would have funded the paving of three separate dirt roads by a margin of 83 percent to 17 percent, while electors in the Allendale Public Schools district approved a two-year extension of the 18-mill non-homestead property tax levy by a two-to-one margin.
Ferrysburg will have a new mayor in the fall as incumbent Daniel Ruiter (179 votes) finished third behind Rebecca Hopp (240 votes) and Regina Sjoberg (237 votes); the two challengers will now face each other in the November general election. Grand Haven Mayor Geri McCaleb advanced by winning her primary (686 votes); she will take on Mike Fritz, who beat out Nichol Stack (381-364) to challenge for the seat.
This was the first election conducted in Ottawa County under the new Hart’s Verity voting system implemented earlier this year, the first such upgrade in 13 years. It was part of a statewide overhaul of how voting is cast in Michigan. There were no candidates or proposals for Allegan County voters to decide upon on Tuesday; that county’s new voting system won’t get its first election test on November 7.
