One incumbent Monroe County commissioner wins, one ousted in election
The lone Democrat on the Monroe County Board of Commissioners was ousted in Tuesday's election, as District 4 Commissioner George L. Jondro lost to Republican Jay Heinzerling.
More:Nov. 8 election results for Monroe County
Heinzerling defeated Jondro 3,533 votes to 2,668.
The other incumbent commissioner facing a contested race Tuesday prevailed, with District 2 Commissioner Mark Brant defeating Danielle Hoover 5,186 votes to 2,823.
"Hard-fought win," Brant said of his re-election. "...It's so gratifying to know that people still support me in District 2."
Brant lauded Jondro while also saying he's eager to get to know Heinzerling.
"George was an excellent county commissioner," Brant said. "He brought a very positive perspective to the board. I don't know Jay, I've never met him so I can't really say anything about him... I'm hopeful that Jay Heinzerling brings another excellent candidate to the board..."
In District 6, Republican David P. Vensel defeated Democrat Jerry Oley 2,281 votes to 1,772.
"I am extremely grateful, really, just for all the support I've had, from my wife, my entire family and really close friends that have helped me with the campaign, and just the community at large, and acting community members in and out of the district who wanted to help me be successful," Vensel said. "I have a lot of gratitude (today)."
In August, Vensel was appointed to serve on the board in an interim basis to fill out the term of former commissioner Sharon Lemasters-Hill, who resigned her position when she moved out of the area. Vensel said that now that he is an elected member of the board, he intends to continue learning about the roles and responsibilities of the position and the governing body.
"I don't have a specific agenda item I'll go after right away, but as I stated in my campaign, obviously public safety and economic development (are focuses of mine)," he said. "I want to get to know what is going on with the merger between the Monroe County Business Development Corporation (BDC), and the Monroe County Chamber of Commerce and the Tourism Bureau, and how I can be a support as a leader in the county to try to bring in new businesses and new jobs for our community members."
Brant said that public safety and economic development will continue to be priorities for the county board of commissioners as a whole.
"Our number one priority is obviously public safety, supporting the sheriff's department and public safety in general." he said. "Our number two goal is economic development. We need to keep our nose to the grindstone on economic development, especially in regards to the coal burner plant that's going to go down. We need to replace that tax base, which we've been doing a pretty good job at (already)..."
This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: One incumbent Monroe County commissioner wins, one ousted in election
