By J. PATRICK PEPPER
Times-Herald Newspapers
HEIGHTS — Last week’s city elections offered few surprises, as incumbents rolled to victory with relative ease.
In the eight-person City Council race, incumbents Margaret Van Houten, Thomas Berry, Janet Badalow and Margaret Horvath won by impressive margins. At 4,086, Van Houten was the leading vote-getter – a distinction she garnered in her last two council runs.
Van Houten was followed by Berry (3,521 votes), Badalow (3,354) and Margaret Horvath (3,301).
The closest competitor, Military Park Neighborhood Association President Jim Lynch, finished more than 1,000 votes behind Horvath with 2,249.
In the three-person race for one six-year seat on the District No. 7 Board of Education, longtime Trustee Virginia Morgan breezed past competitors Cathrine Marie Bunker and Sonja Smith. Morgan’s 477 votes nearly bested her competitors’ combined total of 480.
In the only other contested race, City Clerk Judy Dudzinski decisively beat challenger Mario Fundarski, amassing 5,015 votes to Fundarski’s 583.
In uncontested races, Mayor Daniel Paletko and Treasurer John J. Riley II were re-elected to four-year terms. Lori Fujita also won election to the District 7 school board in an uncontested race to fill the seat left vacant by the September death of Gary Howard.