Ellen Cutsail and Bret Grossnickle elected to Union Bridge Town Council, defeating incumbent Edgar Wentz

Results in Tuesday’s Union Bridge Town Council election show Lou Ellen Cutsail and Bret Grossnickle as the top two vote-getters, defeating 16-year incumbent Edgar Wentz, according to town clerk/treasurer Dawn M. Metcalf.

Metcalf said 59 votes were cast during the election.

Union Bridge Mayor Perry Jones, Jr. ran unopposed and was reelected to another four-year term Tuesday.

Jones, 71, has lived in Union Bridge since 1970 and is one of the owners of Tuck’s Service Center.

Mayor Perry Jones, Jr. casts his ballot Tueasday morning. Mayor Perry Jones, Jr., is running uncontested for reelection and three candidates, Lou Ellen Cutsail, Bret Grossnickle, and Edgar Wentz have been nominated for two seats on the Town Council, Tuesday May 9, 2023. (Jeffrey F. Bill/Carroll County Times)

He first became involved in town politics in 1980, when he was asked to fill the final 11 months of his father’s term on the Town Council. Perry L. “Tuck” Jones Sr. died of a heart attack in 1980.

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Jones Jr. remained on the council for 11 years, until 1991, when he was elected the town’s mayor. He served as mayor until 2002, when he was elected as a Carroll County commissioner and served one term.

He was elected mayor again in 2011, and was reelected in 2015 and 2019.

Jones was the first Black mayor and commissioner in Carroll County’s history. He also served a one-year term as president of the Maryland Municipal League beginning in June 2020.

Cutsail served on the Town Council for 17 years before losing her seat in the 2021 election. She is retired from Hillis-Carnes Engineering Associates, Inc., in Frederick, where she worked as an administrative assistant.

Grossnickle, 64, was mayor of Union Bridge from 2002 to 2011. He also previously served on the Town Council for 16 years and is currently a member of the Planning and Zoning Commission. Grossnickle works as superintendent for Westminster’s Cranberry Water Plant.

The mayor of Union Bridge earns an annual salary of $2,400, while each of the five council members earns $960. Both the mayor and Town Council members earn another $40 for each special meeting they attend outside of the regular monthly meetings.

The Town of Union Bridge has about 930 residents, according to the 2020 census.