Fayette Mayor Greg Stidham was easily re-elected over a write-in challenger, acting City Marshal Bo Wells won a two-way race for a four-year term, the ambulance district earned voter approval for a taxing change, and a bond issue by the Fayette school district overwhelmingly passed in Tuesday’s municipal and school board elections.

Twenty percent of registered Howard County voters turned out to the polls on Tuesday.

A closely watched race in Fayette was between Bo Wells and Fayette police officer Brandon Abbott for City Marshal. Wells was appointed to finish the term left by David Ford, who retired in August. Last week, voters approved Wells for a full term, 193 to 157.

“I was happy with it. I feel like I got a good percentage,” Wells said shortly after results were announced on Tuesday. “I’m proud of me and my campaign, and I’m proud of the citizens for getting out there and making their voice heard. I look forward to the next four years of serving the citizens of Fayette in the capacity of the city marshal. I’d like to thank everybody for the support.”

The position will also carry a higher salary when the city begins its next fiscal year in July. The Board of Aldermen last month voted 5-1 to raise the salary from around $62,000 to $70,000. That will remain in effect for the remainder of the four-year term.

Fayette Mayor Greg Stidham will begin his second consecutive term, and his third overall, this week. He carried 292 of the total 328 votes cast, or 89.02%. His challenger was Brian Cummiskey, a certified write-in candidate, received 25 votes.

“I appreciate the voters’ confidence and the opportunity for two more years as mayor,” Stidham told the Advertiser. “Our city council made lots of improvements the last two years, including our new city administrator, new building inspector, ongoing work on a $1,000,000 streets improvement project to be completed this summer, major progress on city financial audits so we can now apply for grant funding, continued work on identifying derelict housing and cleanup, and work on an electrical reliability study to identify equipment improvement areas. Our city council will continue these projects as well as identifying other upgrades and improvements that will need to be completed in the next two years.”

The Fayette city council has two new aldermen after they were sworn in Tuesday night after the Advertiser went to press. Bradley Patty took the Southwest Ward seat previously held by Grafton Cook. Austin Ivy won a write-in campaign to claim the East Ward seat vacated by Ronda Gerlt. Michelle Ishmael was re-elected without opposition to the Northwest Ward.

The Howard County Ambulance District received voter approval to add a county-wide 1% sales tax. The district will roll back its portion of property tax—49 cents per $100 of assessed valuation—by half. The new tax rate will be 24.5 per $100 of assessed valuation, combined with the new sales tax. The vote carried with 58.59% voter approval (774-547). The district estimates the taxing change will bring in an additional $380,000 in tax revenue per year.

The Fayette school district’s no-tax bond issue passed by a landslide margin. The district asked voters to approve a $2 million bond issue to make various improvements at the football field. Voters overwhelmingly approved the measure by 72.21%, 525-202.

“Thank you to the community for the strong show of support and to the bond campaign committee for their efforts to promote the issue,” said Fayette superintendent Brent Doolin.

The Fayette school board had three candidates for three seats. Max Hilderbrand was sworn in Monday night along with incumbents Shauna Young and Aaron Bentley.

However, moments before the new members were sworn in, longtime board president Skip Vandelicht resigned from the board due to what Supt. Doolin confirmed was “health reasons.”

“I am extremely honored to have served,” Vandelicht told the board. “It’s been seven good years for me. But sometimes you have to think of yourself. Thank you all. I'm sorry to leave you a person down. It’s been a pleasure to work with you.”

Vandelicht has served as board president for the last six years. He offered to sit down with the new board president to help provide a smooth transition.

That new president is Wes Friebe, who is serving in his first term on the school board, having been elected in 2024. He was elected president by the board Monday night. Shauna Young, who is now starting her third term, was elected vice president.

Vandelicht’s departure also leaves a vacancy. He was re-elected to his third term a year ago, and has two years left. Supt. Doolin said the district will accept applications at the central district office until 4 p.m. on April 27 from interested persons to serve the remaining two years of Vandelicht’s term. He will then vet the applicants and present them to the board.

Elsewhere across the county, David Schaefer and Debra Carmack received the highest vote totals in a three-way race for two seats on the 911 board’s western district. The Howard County Public Water District won wide approval for a $9 million waterworks revenue bond. The vote was 248 for the bonds, with 85 voting against.

In the race for Mayor of Franklin, Teddy Townlain received eight of 13 total votes cast.

In Armstrong, William Clayton Long received two of four write-in votes for East Ward Alderman.

Four other races across the county had no candidates, including those for New Franklin school board, Fayette East Ward Alderman, Armstrong East Ward Alderman, and Glasgow North Ward Alderman. Write-in votes were numerous, and tallies appear with the official election results published on Page 4 of this newspaper.