Published: May 05, 2009 06:55 am      

Vote Today! Items on area ballots

TRAVERSE CITY -- Voters will go to the polls today for an annual school election. A number of area districts have items on the ballot.

Grand Traverse County:

-- Kingsley Public Schools is asking voters to renew an 18-mill, non-homestead operating millage that failed in November. Approving the millage will allow the district to receive its full state aid allocation.

Leelanau County:

-- Two seats are open on the Suttons Bay Public Schools board of education. Candidates include Steven Hall and John Zachman.

-- Two seats also are open on the Glen Lake Community Schools board. Candidates include Jeffrey Black and Gregory Flees.

-- Northport Public School's board has one open seat. The only candidate on the ballot is Beth Dickinson. In addition, the district is asking voters to approve an operating millage proposal for 15.6583 mills. Of that, only 13.388 mills would be collected.

Benzie County:

-- Frankfort-Elberta Area Schools wants voters to approve a seven-year bond proposal that would generate $530,000 for capital projects. The levy rate the first year will be 0.06 mills, but will increase to an average of 0.21 mills over the life of the bond.

Antrim County:

-- Alba Public School's board has one three-year position open. Roy Wicht is the sole candidate. Two four-year board terms also are available. Charles Lord, Annette Marcus and Richard Francis Trever are running.

-- Two seats are open on the Bellaire Public Schools board. Candidates include Carl Stahl and Scott Steiner. In addition, the district is asking voters to renew its 18-mill, non-homestead operating millage.

-- Two seats are open on the Central Lake Public Schools board. Candidates include Betsy King and Sue Wagner. In addition, the district is asking voters to renew an 18-mill, non-homestead operating millage and approve a three-year, 0.45-mill sinking fund.

-- One seat is open on the Elk Rapids Schools board. Aaron Cook and Thomas Near are running.

-- Ellsworth Community School has two available school board seats. Rhonda Thorman, Tom Tomalka and Chris Wallace are running. In addition, the district is asking voters to renew an 18-mill, non-homestead operating millage and approve a five-year, 1.5-mill sinking fund.

-- One three-year seat is open on the Mancelona Public Schools board. Gerald Cook is running. Two four-year seats also are available, and candidates include Tom Ross and Burt Thompson. The district also is asking voters to renew an 18-mill, non-homestead operating millage.

-- Voters in Central Lake and Ellsworth districts also will be asked to vote for members of the Charlevoix-Emmet Intermediate School District board. Candidates for two six-year terms include Barry Anderson and Carol McDonnell, and Thomas Johnson is the lone candidate for one four-year term.

Kalkaska County:

-- One seat is open on the Kalkaska Public Schools board and Lawrence Barber is the sole candidate.

-- One four-year term on the Excelsior District No. 1 School board is open, but without a candidate, while another two-year term is open and Lori Kristen Coan is the sole candidate.

-- Residents of Kalkaska County's Bear Lake Township also will vote in Crawford-Au Sable School District, COOR Intermediate School District and Kirtland Community College elections. Two seats are open on the Crawford-Au Sable board with three candidates: Richard Febey, Jim Hulbert and Steven Sendek. The district also is asking voters to renew an 18-mill, non-homestead operating millage for three years.

-- Three candidates are running for four open seats on the COOR board, including Bernadine Dosch, Robert Carpenter and Nancy Persing.

-- Two seats are open on the Kirtland Community College Board of Trustees, but only Roy Spangler is running.