Three races in Waynesboro still too close to call after counting ends for the night

WAYNESBORO — Residents of Waynesboro will have to wait a little longer to learn their city council and school board representatives, as races are tight across the city except in the school board race for Ward C.

Here's a look at what we know as of now on election night. The News Leader will check for more tomorrow at the registrar's office.

CITY COUNCIL

WARD C

The new Waynesboro city councilor from Ward C will apparently be Kenny Lee, who currently holds a 57 vote lead over Republican Jeremy Sloat. Lee currently has 747 votes to Sloat's 690.

Lee was hesitant to say he'd won in an interview with The News Leader as he waits for provisional and late mail-in ballots to be accounted for.

"I don't want to presume something unless it's official," Lee said.

Lee would be stepping in to replace outgoing council member and Mayor Bobby Henderson on the council, and he will be the only Black member of the council.

He grew up in Waynesboro prior to enlisting in the armed forces and served in the United States Air Force. When he came back to Waynesboro, he told The News Leader that he didn’t come home just to live here, but to make a difference in his community.

Now, Lee has that opportunity, and his approach to the council stands to be a rational and measured one. Lee said he is “data-driven” thanks to his time serving and working for the Air Force and he wants to look deeper into some of the issues that currently plague Waynesboro. He is committed to making sure that schools are a safe learning environment and to funding the Waynesboro Police Department.

He also has a particular interest in addressing the homeless population in the city, and wants to take a deeper look at the city’s usage of Community Development Block Grant funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

WARD D

Jim Wood has apparently unseated incumbent Sam Hostetter in the race for Waynesboro City Council's Ward D seat, though it is possible that the race could be headed to a recount. Wood currently holds a 21 vote lead over Hostetter with all precincts and early/absentee ballots counted, but with provisional ballots and late mail-in votes still left on the table. The current totals come in at 1,117 for Wood to 1,096 for Hostetter.

"We're going to wait and see. It's close. I am surprised by how tight it is," Hostetter said. He wants to see how the remaining ballots will turn out, and was unaware if he was within the one percent margin to ask for a recount.

Wood ran on a campaign where he dubbed himself the “priority guy.” High on Wood’s list for the city is to address what he sees as a rampant crime and drug problem by increasing salaries for both the Waynesboro Police Department and the Sheriff’s Department. He believes that by increasing salaries, the departments can return to a full level of staffing and reinstitute units like the drug task force.

Wood also ran on the idea of bringing manufacturing and industry back to the city as a source of tax revenue, and wants to slow down on rezoning land in the city from business to residential to avoid losing out on opportunities to bring in tax revenue.

His hope is to bring in other forms of revenue to the city to help stay away from hikes in property tax. Wood also wants to increase transparency between the community and the council, something he feels has been lacking over the last several years.

SCHOOL BOARD

WARD C

Debra Freeman-Belle won a second term on school board, running unopposed on the ballot this year. She received 95.5% of the vote with 56 write-in candidates receiving votes.

She is the executive director of The Boys & Girls Club, a position she began in March. Before that she was the executive director for the Waynesboro Area Refuge Ministry (WARM).

She questioned if she was going to run again, asking herself if she was giving 100% to the school board position and not just showing up. The pandemic took a toll on her, as she worked through one crisis after another on the school board, at work and as a parent.

She told The News Leader that, in her next term, she would like to continue helping students make up ground academically based on what they lost during the pandemic. She also wants to focus on the mental health of students.

"When I was a teenager I couldn't sit down and make A's when I felt like life was coming for me," she told The News Leader. "To me that's a priority that is real and is not going away."

WARD D

Newcomer Amber Lipscomb has apparently beaten out incumbent Kathe Maneval, denying the Ward D representative a fifth term. Lipscomb holds a lead of 134 votes, 1,153 to 1,019.

Lipscomb told The News Leader she is not commenting at this time as she awaits the provisional ballots to be counted.

Lipscomb was a sixth-grade math teacher at Kate Collins Middle School for six years, beginning in 2015. She currently is an online school teacher for another school district after stepping away from Waynesboro Public Schools last year. She said serving on school board was a way she could continue to help her former students, showing the community she's still dedicated to them.

Lipscomb graduated from Stuarts Draft High School and James Madison University, where she received a master's in education. She and her husband have two young children.

She wants to help schools navigate education post-COVID. She also said she'd like to see more transparency between the school division and community, hopefully working to increase communication of what is happening in the schools.

"I want the students to be proud to be in Waynesboro and Waynesboro Public Schools," she said. "Just by having community events and just building that up more. I feel like we can do a little better with that."

Maneval had served since 2006.

—Akhil Ganesh is the Government Reporter at The News Leader. You can contact him at aganesh@newsleader.com and follow him on Twitter @akhildoesthings.

Patrick Hite is The News Leader's education reporter. Story ideas and tips always welcome. Contact Patrick (he/him/his) at phite@newsleader.com and follow him on Twitter @Patrick_Hite. Subscribe to us at newsleader.com.

This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Three races in Waynesboro still too close to call after counting ends for the night