GREENFIELD — With a crucial jail project ahead of the county, voters decided to stick with the status quo as incumbents went two for three in the primary races for county commissioner and council.
Marc Huber pulled out a tightly contested race against current Hancock County councilman Kent Fisk, winning by less than 200 votes. By the slimmest of margins, Huber pulled in 5,467 votes (50.84 percent) to Fisk’s 5,287 (49.16 percent).
“I truly appreciate all my supporters. It’s humbling that everyone would support you like that and believe in what you’re doing,” Huber said.
Huber said throughout the election that he knew the vote would be close because of Fisk’s name recognition. He said he was relieved that he was the candidate that ultimately pulled through. He now takes the GOP nomination into November where he will attempt to grab his second term as county commissioner.
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Fisk currently sits on the county council and will remain in his council seat until at least 2020.
He said he was hoping he would get a little more support outside of Greenfield but thought the spending in the race may have swung the balance in Huber’s favor.
“My opponent got a lot of funding,” Fisk said. “He outspent me almost two to one.”
On the council side of the election, Jim Shelby triumphed relatively easily over Will Ronan in the race for the 3rd District seat, grabbing 1,762 votes (71.42 percent) to Ronan’s 705 votes (28.58 percent). Shelby has been on the council for 17 years and said he thought his experience and door-to-door campaigning in the district sealed the win for him Tuesday.
Ronan, a political newcomer who was running on his education and his financial background as an accountant, said he was proud of the result given his inexperience. Ronan decided to run to try and bring some fresh blood to the council, especially as the county moved towards making a big financial decision on the jail project.
“Three months ago, not many people knew who Will Ronan was,” he said. “I’ll take this as a learning experience.”
In the District 2 race it was current Hancock County Assessor Mary Noe scoring a victory over incumbent Randy Sorrell. Noe, like Huber had a very slim margin of victory, winning 1,217 votes (52.75 percent) to 1,090 (47.25 percent). For Noe, the nomination win takes her one step closer to a return to the county council, where she served for seven years from 1988 to 1994 before turning to different political offices.
“I’m excited, I’m anxious to start the next chapter in my life,” Noe said. “I’m looking forward to taking on the challenges facing the county.”
No Democrats have currently filed for any of the seats in the three races. The party has until June 30 to nominate a candidate to the ballot for the General Election in November.
