Tellier and Wulf win township school board races; Newport and Graf unseated
By: John Tredrea
The Hopewell Valley Regional School District’s budget and a separate ballot question both passed in Tuesday’s school district election as Aaron Tellier and James Wulf of Hopewell Township won terms on the regional school board.
The voters approved a $57,264,391 budget by 231 votes. With 22.6 percent of the district’s voters going to the polls, there were 1,762 Yes votes on the budget and 1,531 No votes.
A $657,000 separate proposal passed by 75 votes. There were 1,679 Yes votes on the separate question and 1,604 No votes.
There were seven candidates for two Hopewell Township seats on the regional school board. Messrs. Tellier and Wulf, running as a slate, won easily. Mr. Tellier led the field with 1,262 votes. Mr. Wulf had 1,149. It will be the first term on the board for both men. Kim Newport, president of the school board and a member of the board for eight years, came in third with 908 votes. Her running mate Robert Gehm, who was seeking a first term, had 624 votes. Incumbent Werner Graf had 256 votes. Ken Hansen had 248. Neil Seftor had 228 votes.
Running unopposed, Mel Myers of Hopewell Borough was re-elected with 210 votes. Pennington and Hopewell Borough each have one seat on the nine-seat board. Pennington’s seat, occupied by Kevin Doran, was not contested this year.