Crawfordsville voters proclaim no change is needed at the local leadership level.
On Tuesday, residents re-elected Republicans Jeff Lucas, Kent Priebe, Jennifer Lowe, Stan Hamilton and Andy Biddle, Democrat Mike Reidy and Independent Ethan Hollander to the Crawfordsville Common Council.
Lucas, Hollander, Priebe, Lowe and Hamilton each represent one of five wards within the city and were not challenged in the Municipal Election.
Biddle and Reidy represent the council as at-large officeholders. The two incumbents fended off a challenge from Republican and former city councilman Scott Molin for one of the at-large seats. In the three-way race, Biddle was the top vote-getter with 486 votes (37.04%) followed by Reidy with 434 votes (33.08%). Molin had 392 votes (29.88%).
Mayor Todd Barton also was on the ballot this year but faced no opponent. He was elected to serve a fourth term. Barton was first elected the city’s mayor in 2011 and took office Jan. 1, 2012. He was subsequently elected to serve second and third terms after being unopposed in the 2015 and 2019 elections. His 2015 and 2019 election victories marked the only times in Crawfordsville’s history that a mayor’s race was uncontested in the General Election. This year’s victory continues that trend.
A new face joining city government will be Karyn Douglas. She is the current Montgomery County Clerk and was elected city clerk-treasurer in an unopposed race. Douglas will replace long-time city clerk Terri Gadd who did not seek re-election.
Douglas said she will officially tender her resignation as county clerk in the coming days, and her final day in that capacity will be Dec. 31. The county GOP will need to conduct a caucus to fill her position at the courthouse.
Douglas, who has worked in the county clerk’s office for the past 16 years, said Tuesday’s election was bittersweet. She reported there were very few problems during the day, and she was satisfied to see 854 votes (9.24%) cast in this year’s election.
