ATHENS, Ohio — Three Nelsonville City Council incumbents will retain their seats, while an old foe and two newcomers will join the council, following this year’s general election.
According to unofficial election results from the Athens County Board of Elections, incumbents Nancy Sonick and Justin Booth — who received 18.83% and 16.52% of votes, respectively — and newcomer Rita Nguyen, who received 19.06% of votes, have been elected to serve full four-year council terms.
The three beat incumbents Tony Dunfee, Doug Childs and Dan Sherman, who received 16.15%, 16.01% and 13.43% of votes, respectively, in the same at-large race.
Dunfee was elected in 2019, according to BOE records. Sherman was elected to the council in 2017. Childs rejoined the council by appointment in August after resigning in February. He was originally appointed to the council in June 2022.
Nguyen’s victory against the incumbents follows a lengthy upheaval in city government, with Dunfee and Sherman frequently blaming one another for the city’s dysfunction.
Nguyen, Sherman and Sonick campaigned together, as did Booth, Childs and Dunfee, making for essentially two, three-person tickets in the six-candidate race.
In an uncontested race for three, two-year, at-large unexpired council terms, newcomer Jonathan Flowers received 40.03% of the vote, incumbent Cory Taylor received 34.49% and ousted former council member Greg Smith received 25.48%. Despite his four removals from February 2021 to February 2022, Smith will return to the body next year.
Current council member Gregg Clement, whose seat was not up for election this year, makes for the seventh and final council member.
In other Nelsonville results, City Auditor Taylor Sappington received 644 votes in an uncontested race.
“I’m pretty grateful that the voters of Nelsonville gave me more time to do good work,” Sappington said.
Booth declined to comment until Wednesday. Childs, Dunfee, Nguyen, Sherman and Sonick did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday night.
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