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Incumbent Mayor John P. Rhaesa is sworn into office by Wayne City Clerk Tina M. Stanke on Monday after winning reelection Nov. 3. Photo by Sean Rhaesa |
Wayne voters reelected incumbent Mayor John P. Rhaesa by a narrow margin giving him another term in office during voting last week.
Rhaesa received 3,275 votes to defeat opponent Anthony Wayne Miller who received 3,131 votes.
Rhaesa took 51 percent of the votes while Miller was favored by 49 percent of the electorate.
Voters also eliminated the ward system of voting in the city with the approval of Voting District Proposal 1. Voters approved the measure with 3,957 yes votes and 2,734 voting no. The totals indicated at 59 percent of voters were in favor of eliminating the ward system and returning the city to a single voting district. The ward system was approved by voters in 2014 and required candidates for city council to be from one of six wards although voting was at large. The approved proposal will now have council members elected at large throughout the city without any ward residence requirement.
Proposal 2 on the city ballot would have kept the ward system and required that only voters in the specific ward chose the city council member from that ward. Yes votes totaled 3,935 or 58 percent while no votes were 2,801 or 42 percent. Since both proposals were approved, the question with the most yes votes will become effective in the city. Proposal 1 was favored by more voters, making it the new system in the city. The ward system will be phased out in the community. The three city council members elected this year will continue to represent their wards until the end of their terms of office. Voters will choose three candidates to serve on the city council in 2022 under the new system and vote for at-large candidates in 2024.
Voters also chose members of the Wayne Westland Community Schools Board of Education.
The top vote getter in the election to fill three terms on the board was Kimberly R. May who received 9,661 votes. Incumbent Melandie Yvonne Hines received 8,932 votes and newcomer John Albrecht earned 8,848 votes. These three candidates were successful in their campaigns to serve terms on the board.
Other candidates, Angela Jackson-Irvine received 8,832 votes; Timothy Gilbert was favored by 8,561 voters; Sheree Conn received 6,936 votes; Gayle Nicholson was the choice of 5,583 voters; Susan Lachhman received 5,390; Daniel Beier collected 3,545 votes and Eric Cleereman vote total was 3,265.
