The incumbent mayor of Havre de Grace was ousted, while the mayors of Hampstead and Union Bridge easily won re-election yesterday as voters in four municipalities went to the polls in Harford and Carroll counties.
In Havre de Grace, a city of 11,000 in northern Harford, voters ousted Mayor John Correri Jr., who was lagging far behind two front-runners with 68 absentee and provisional ballots still to be counted. Candidate Wayne Dougherty had a 38-vote lead over Gary Wasielewski last night. Frederick Cullum finished last in the race.
Cullum, Dougherty and Wasielewski are all City Council members who vacated their seats to challenge Correri.
Joe Kochenderfer, Barbara Jenifer-Ferguson and Randolph Craig -- the highest vote-getters among eight City Council candidates -- won election to the three open seats. The mayor and council members serve two-year terms. Three of the six council seats are up for election every year.
Craig is the son of Harford County Executive David R. Craig, who began his political career as a Havre de Grace council member in 1979. Jenifer-Ferguson and Kochenderfer are former council members.
About 29 percent of Havre de Grace's registered voters cast ballots.
In northeast Carroll County, Mayor Haven N. Shoemaker Jr. was unopposed on the ballot in Hampstead, a town of 6,000 residents. But seven candidates vied for two seats up for grabs on the five-member Town Council. The top two vote-getters, incumbent Councilman Christopher M. Nevin and newcomer Joe Zynel, an insurance adjuster and Main Street revitalization advocate, won the seats. They will be sworn in during Tuesday's council meeting.
In Carroll County's eight municipalities, mayors and council members serve four-year terms.
Some 15 percent of Hampstead's registered voters -- 495 residents -- cast ballots in the election, town manager Ken Decker said.
Residents of the small northwest Carroll towns of New Windsor and Union Bridge also voted yesterday. In Union Bridge, Mayor Bret D. Grossnickle was re-elected. His challenger, former Town Councilman Scott W. Davis, withdrew from the race April 23. A write-in candidate, John Witiak, won 24 votes, trailing Grossnickle by 54 votes.
Incumbent Donald D. Wilson and Edgar C. Wentz won the two seats up for election on Union Bridge's five-member Town Council.
In New Windsor, incumbent Town Councilman Kevin Null and telecommunications technician F. Tracey Alban II won seats on the five-member council. Tying for the third open seat were incumbent Steve Farkas and career firefighter Byron Welker. The seat is to be decided in a run-off election.
The mayor's job in New Windsor isn't up for election until 2009.
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Election results
Havre de Grace
Mayor (Undecided, with 60 absentee ballots uncounted)
Wayne Dougherty 732
Gary Wasielewski 694
John Correri Jr. 225
Frederick Cullum 159
City Council (Three seats)*Joe Kochenderfer 809
*Barbara Jenifer-Ferguson 774
*Randolph Craig 702
James Allen Boyle 608
Thomas Fitzpatrick 560
Herman Schweers Jr. 428
Kalman Riegelhaupt 346
James Walker 328
Hampstead
Mayor*Haven N. Shoemaker Jr. 425 (unopposed)
Town Council (Two seats)*Christopher M. Nevin 280
*Joe Zynel 250
Herbert R. Raver Sr. 115
Danny R. Lee 106
David T. Unglesbee 105
Kristi A. Yowell 38
Matthew M. Szybalski 7
New Windsor
Town Council (Three seats)*Kevin Null 115
*F. Tracey Alban II 83
Steve Farkas 76
Byron Welker 76
Ed Smith 26
Union Bridge
Mayor*Bret D. Grossnickle 78
John Witiak (write-ins) 24
Scott W. Davis 2
Town Council (Two seats)*Donald D. Wilson 86
*Edgar C. Wentz 81
John T. "Tommy" Hyde III 44
[*indicates winning candidates]