The results are in from Tuesday's primary election in St. Clair County, and there will be some new faces on the County Board of Commissioners. In the 1st district, Republican Steve Simasko will face Democrat Fred Fuller for the seat currently represented by Greg McConnell who is not seeking re-election. In the 4th district, Only 24 votes separating incumbent Republican Duke Dunn from challenger Joi Torello, with Torello ending up on top. She will face Democrat Jessyca Fye. Commission Chairman Jeff Bohm earned another term representing the 5th district. About a thousand votes separating him from his challenger Shawn Treadway. Bohm will be unopposed by a Democrat in November And in the 6th district, it was another close one between incumbent Republican David Rushing and Bill Gilmer. With 123 votes separating the two, Rushing ended up on top and will square off next with Democrat John Pettinato.
There will be at least one new face on the St. Clair County Board of Commissioners next year, with incumbents also being challenged in three other districts. That means voters in certain areas of the county will have competitive matchups for both the August primary and November general election. Greg McConnell will not be running for reelection in the first district. Republicans Steve Simasko and Carolyn Richards will face off in a primary as will Democrats Fred Fuller and Tina Ritter. GOP Primaries will also be held in the fourth district between incumbent Duke Dunn and Joi Torrello. In the fifth district, incumbent Republican Commission Chairman Jeff Bohm will be challenged by Shawn Treadway. In the Sixth District, GOP incumbent Dave Rushing will be face Bill Gilmer in a primary. Incumbent Republican Jorja Baldwin in the second district, Democrat Lisa Beedon in the third district, and Republican Dave Vandenbosch in the seventh district are all unopposed. The deadline to file to run f
St. Clair County plans to spend over over a half million dollars to help prevent the spread of invasive caterpillars this springtime. Commissioners Thursday approved a bid from Al's Aerial Spraying to treat nearly 5400 acers of land at a cost of nearly $95 per acer. Commissioner Duke Dunn chairs the Environment and Public Works Committee and told our Paul Miller they needed to act quickly in order to get the caterpillars, commonly known as gypsy moths, under control. "With short notice, we've got to get these people into a contract, and a lot of these communities wouldn't have been able to come up with the funds at this time," said Dunn. "We did agree to cover the costs this year and we're going to start negotiating for future years, where maybe we can start weaning the county off of it." Dunn says the county may ask individual municipalities to share the expenses if additional spraying is needed in the coming years. The largest amount of acreage