4th Ward winner Fahl hopes to continue working on code update

Now that Democrat Christine Fahl looks to be heading back to Athens City Council to represent the Fourth Ward for two more years, she says she'll continue working with the city planner to update city laws as they apply to development.

"œImmediately, we have to look at the budget; that's what we're doing right now," Fahl said Wednesday morning. "œBut a longer-term project is going to be updating the code to make it much more proactive and understandable by both developers and citizens of the city."

Fahl had faced a challenge by Republican Randy Morris, and was the only council member to see a contested race. Unofficial results from the Athens County Board of Elections Wednesday morning had Fahl winning with 376 votes compared to 346 votes for Morris. This equates to 52.08 percent of the vote for Fahl and 47.92 percent for Morris.

Thirty-nine provisional ballots still need to be counted, and assuming they all made a decision on the race, Morris will need a virtually impossible 35 of those to take the lead. The Board of Elections said that these will be counted during the official count on Nov. 20. There are also more than 20 problem absentee ballots that will be resolved at that time; however, it was unclear how many of those came from the Fourth Ward, which includes mainly Athens' near and far east sides.

Fahl said she is pleased to be returning to Council.

"I'm pleased because my campaign was about issues that the people of the Fourth Ward told me were of concern when I went door-to-door, which I did a lot of," Fahl said. "During the campaign, I talked to lots and lots of people."

She said she's also pleased with the positive tone of her supporters, and that it says a lot about the people of Athens.

Fahl also expressed her gratitude to poll workers, who she said put in a huge amount of time and effort.

"A lot of times they're overlooked, and I just wanted to say thank you," Fahl said. "They're very professional, and without volunteers our elections would not go nearly as smooth as they have. Especially from me "“ from the candidates "“ I want them to know they're appreciated."

Morris said that everything seemed to work as it is supposed to work.

"People had two candidates with different views, and they considered two candidates and selected the person that they want to represent them for the next two years," Morris said. "That's the beauty of our system. They're going to get the representation they want, as it should be."

Morris said that while he is obviously disappointed, the majority of the voters aren't, so that's a good thing.

As far as whether he will stay involved in city government, Morris said he'd like to do so but doesn't have any specific plans at the moment.

"I'm certainly not ruling anything out but I don't have any plans right now," he said.

He also encouraged City Council to consider the number of Democrats who expressed their concern with the way things are going by voting for him.

"It's an indication that they might want to reevaluate some of their positions on issues," Morris said. "But that, of course, will be up to them whether they think that's warranted or not."

ON THE ISSUES, ATHENS COUNTY voters went with the statewide results on Issue 1 (Persian Gulf, Iraq and Afghanistan vets' bonuses), passing it 71.06 to 28.94 percent. Unofficial results from the Ohio Secretary of State show the issue passing 72.15 percent to 27.85 percent.

Athens County bucked the statewide tide on Issue 2, which creates a Livestock Care Standards Board, voting 61.37 percent no to 38.63 percent yes. Statewide, unofficial results had Issue 2 passing with 63.66 percent of the vote to 36.34 percent. According to the Secretary of State's office, Athens County was the only county in Ohio that voted no on Issue 2, extending Athens' reputation as a maverick in state politics.

Athens County voters soundly rejected Issue 3, the casino gambling measure, voting 59.96 percent no to 40.04 percent yes. Statewide, the Secretary of State Web site had Issue 3 passing with 52.97 percent yes votes and 47.03 percent no.

On local issues, Athens County voters approved a renewal levy for emergency medical services (69.10 to 30.90 percent), OKed a replacement levy for the City-County Health Department (63.70 to 36.30 percent), and passed a tax levy for seniors/meals on wheels (64.01 to 35.99 percent).

Athens city voters approved City Council looking into a gas aggregation program by 69.87 to 30.13 percent.

For results in school board, township and city and village races throughout Athens County, go to the Athens County Board of Elections Web site at http://athensboardofelections.com/default.aspx.