Knapic, Reynolds, Myers win seats on Wooster City Council, Warden unopposed

WOOSTER – The unofficial final vote count from the Wayne County Board of Elections came in the wee hours of Wednesday morning, and with it the results for Wooster City Council.

The elections board met at 10 a.m. Wednesday to finalize the votes.

Attorney and former council member Barbara Knapic and attorney Bob Reynolds won the two at-large council races with 2,441 and 2,553 votes respectively, while incumbent Bob Bostancic lost his seat with 1,911 votes.

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Council member Scott Myers secured another term with 944 votes against Greg Schmitz's 473 for the Ward 4 seat.

Unlike her colleagues, the unopposed Ward 2 City Council incumbent Jennifer Warden easily claimed victory.

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Barbara Knapic and Bob Reynolds win Council at-large seats

Jon Ansel's departure from council left a vacant at-large post that needed filling while Bostancic sought out his second term. This meant only two of three candidates could make it onto Wooster City Council.

If the unofficial counts don't change, Bostancic and Ansel will be replaced by Knapic and Reynolds.

"It was a privilege to do it and to be on council for four years," Bonstancic said. "I wish both Bob Reynolds and Barb Knapic the best, and I think they'll both do well."

Knapic served on Wooster City Council in Ward 2 for eight years but left four years ago to run for judge. Now that she's back, her first item on the agenda is listening to the people of Wooster.

"I want to hear what they want and need from the city," Knapic said. "Then I will go back to the positions I ran."

Her primary concerns for Wooster are affordable housing and homelessness.

"I think one of the most important issues that we have is one that many communities have and that's affordable housing for people so that we attract businesses into the community," Knapic said.

Like Knapic, Reynolds hopes to continue the city's housing policy to construct more single-family and affordable housing developments.

He also hopes to tackle homelessness in Wooster.

"Homelessness is often a symptom of a larger underlying problem, such as a mental health issue or an addiction issue," Reynolds said. "We are fortunate to have agencies in our community that are better suited to address those underlying causes, so the city needs to continue to partner with those agencies."

Scott Myers wins Ward 4 seat

Greg Schmitz had hoped to make his entry into Wooster politics this election while Myers aimed to retain his Ward 4 seat. In the end, Myers won out.

"I just want to thank the citizens for their vote and I plan to continue to listen to their concerns going forward," Myers said.

At the top of Myers' agenda is to make the city more worker-friendly and to address the homeless situation.

"We on City Council can't do a whole lot to directly assist businesses and recruiting workforce, however, we address quality of life issues for the city of Wooster, and to make it an attractive place to live," Myers said.

This means continuing the city's housing development policy and improving the parks and bike paths around Wooster.

Voters weigh in on the state of the city

While the 60-year-old Bob Balogh's prime concern this election is those elected to Wooster City Schools Board of Education, he also doesn't want the city to change too much.

One issue that drew him to the polls was the Oldman Road housing development that would have featured over 400-units of housing.

Although the school district withdrew its rezoning request, he is concerned that Wooster would mirror Medina, where Balogh previously lived.

"I saw what happened in Medina when the developers came in and slowly but irrevocably destroyed what made Medina so nice," he said, after voting at Parkview Christian Church in Wooster.

Ron and Marilyn Peacock shared similar views. The 62-year-old married couple both said the city is going in the wrong direction.

"We didn't really like how things were going in the city," Marilyn Peacock said. "Things weren't bad, but they weren't as good as we wanted."

Hoping for a change in government, the couple voted against each incumbent.

Reach Bryce by email at bbuyakie@gannett.com

On Twitter: @Bryce_Buyakie

This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Voters elect four to Wooster City Council