Amy Kirkpatrick, left, celebrates with John Jester after she won the primary election for the District 2 seat on the Greenfield Council. Tuesday, May 2, 2023.
Tom Russo | Daily Reporter
GREENFIELD — Taking both hands and rubbing his eyes while standing in the hall of the county’s annex building waiting for the votes to be counted, Greenfield City Council incumbent candidate John Jester said he was tired but hoped the hard work would all pay off.
The race for several seats on the city’s council became clearer following the Tuesday, May 2 primary where four different positions had multiple candidates with the winners moving on to the general election in the fall.
It was Republicans Jester, Mitch Pendlum and Daniel J. Riley vying for two at-large seats with the top two vote-getters getting the nod to move on. Republicans Amy Kirkpatrick and Jessica Fisk-Abraham were both going for the District 2 seat while Republicans Michael Howard and Jeff Lowder were running for the District 4 seat.
Both Riley and Jester were the big vote-getters, capturing the majority of the votes for the two at-large seats. Riley received 1,176 votes, 37.2%, and Jester got 1,099 votes, 34.8%. Pendlum finished in third place with 863 votes or 27.9%.
“It’s two seats for the at-large in the fall so we should be good, and I can tell you it was worth all the hard work,” Jester said after the votes were counted. “I’m really excited as we got some good experience that we’ve kept on the board.”
Jester noted he’s not saying there will not be some challenges for city officials in the coming months and years but he feels like things are headed in the right direction.
“We do think the city is doing some great things with some good leaders in place, particularly at the fire and police departments with both leaders doing a great job,” Jester said.
Riley noted it was good to get the win, and he was grateful for the support of the community in capturing so many votes. He even joked that some people might have thought they were voting for James Whitcomb Riley. But, on a more serious note, he said he’s looking forward to working with the outgoing and incoming mayor of Greenfield.
“I hope that we can all continue to work together as a council with the Mayor (Chuck) Fewell, and I’ve talked with Mr. Titus and he’s looking forward to working with us,” Riley said. “I think it’s a great day for Greenfield.”
For the at-large seat, all three of the candidates were well-qualified. Pendlum ran on 16 years of experience on the Greenfield City Council and noted with a new mayor coming in, it was going to be important to have an experienced councilman on the board. Riley was a two-term Greenfield City Council member and three-term Greenfield-Central School board member. Jester came in having served on the city council for one term. He also served as a coroner and the chief of police for the city.
For the District 4 seat, Lowder was the incumbent with seven years on the city council and four years as the Center Township Trustee while Howard came into the race with no political experience. In the end, the voters went with Lowder, who won 204 votes, some 60.3% of the vote, while Howard got 134 votes or only 39.6% of the vote.
“I think the people in my district know me as I’ve been working for them for seven and a half years now,” Lowder said. “I’m glad to have won.”
Lowder noted he’s looking forward to working with the new mayor and that the council will have a new look after the fall election, and he thinks that’s a good thing.
“I think we need more young people on board,” he said.
Lowder noted working on city roads will probably be one of their biggest challenges in the immediate future.
As for the District 2 seat, the winner was Kirkpatrick, who captured 64.6% of the vote getting 287 votes while Fisk-Abraham received 35.3% of the votes or 157 votes.
“There was a lot going on in our race and I think we all know that,” Kirkpatrick said. “At first I wanted to run because I work at the hospital and I enjoy doing things for our community, but after talking with others and getting involved I think this was a good chance for me to leave my mark and help the community.”
Kirkpatrick thanked Riley and Jester for encouraging her to toss her hat into the ring and run for the seat. After she was told she had won the primary, she quickly wanted to know how Jester and Riley did.
“They both really encouraged to take part in this and be a part,” Kirkpatrick said.
Kirkpatrick was seeking the position without any political experience but noted heading into the primary that she graduated from Greenfield-Central schools, as have all her children, and she noted she cares deeply about the community. Her father, great-grandfather and brother have all had long careers in public service with Greenfield and Hancock County. Her opponent, Fisk-Abraham, also entered the race with zero political experience.
The other Greenfield City Council seats did not have a primary as District 3 showed Republican Joyce Plisinski running unopposed in the fall while the District 5 seat has Republican Thomas J. Moore running against Democrat Bradley Scott Morris in the fall. The general election race is set for Tuesday, Nov. 7.
