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“The community
just got stronger!”
By Bob Robinson
GREENVILLE – Marv Stammen, former president of Second National Bank,
summarized the intent, and the end result, of the Greenville City
School District’s campaign and the slogan it used from the start:
Strong Schools Strong Community.
The levy won by a wide margin Aug. 6, 57 to 43 percent. Out of 5,927
votes cast, 3,395 voted “for,” 2,532 “against.”
In a possible explanation for the unusually strong support for a bond
levy, he said “it’s no longer cool to be against this.”
About 200 levy supporters and campaign workers were at Memorial Hall to
watch as the votes were being posted. When the final tally came in the
group broke into cheers, clapping, hugging and congratulating each
other. Many were laughing; a few were in tears. High-fives were
commonplace.
“This is awesome,” said one supporter.
“Our kids have a new school,” yelled another.
Others expressed disbelief along with relief. “I just can’t believe it
after all this time,” she said. Then she laughed.
“Fifty seven to 43 percent? Unheard of!”
There were 19 school ballot issues in the Aug. 6 special elections. Of
those 19, six were approved by voters. Greenville was one of them.
Passage of the August levy ensures it will keep the 12.5 percent
rollback to property owners.
Greenville Schools Superintendent Doug Fries and Treasurer Carla Surber
had been at the Election Board. Soon after the final vote was posted,
they arrived at Memorial Hall. Celebrants lined up to create a
“pathway” from the door to the top of the center stairs. When Fries
entered he pumped his fist as a signal that “we did it!” The crowd
began cheering and clapping, then went into chants such as “We love
Greenville” and “Green Wave.”
Fries thanked them. He thanked the community. He thanked especially the
campaign’s tri-chairs Jan Teaford, Susan Spille and Rita McCans.
“The campaign was outstanding,” he said.
His thanks to the community was inclusive, from the media to the
business community, to the public and non-profit agencies, to the
individuals who volunteered their time and efforts on behalf of the
campaign.
School Board member Cindy Scott said she first ran for the school board
14 years ago, noting she didn’t make it the first time but had now been
on the board 12 years.
“My goal from day 1 was to have new facilities for our kids. It’s about
time!”
Darke County Economic Development Director Marc Saluk said there was
countywide support for this levy.
“We had leaders from other communities saying this needed to be done.
This in itself is unusual.” Stammen echoed the comment, noting CIC
President Jim Poeppelman from Versailles said Greenville is the county
seat. It needs a new school.
The first report came in with an approximate 600 vote lead with 12 out
of 25 precincts reporting.
Greenville Administrative Service Director Jon McGreevey commented he
thought most of the early reporting was coming from within Greenville.
He hoped the attempt to get the message to the surrounding communities
in the district was successful.
“I have heard several residents from other parts of the district say
they wanted to be part of this,” he said. “They wanted to support their
school district.”
McGreevey also noted he heard many residents say they hadn’t voted for
the levy in the past but they were voting for it now.
“That means there’s change in the community. They want to be part of
it.”
Surber said she was optimistic the levy would pass, but the
“accountant” in her required her to be realistic about the margin of
victory. She predicted the final tally to be 51 to 49 percent.
“You aren’t going to change the ‘no’ votes,” she said. “Getting the
‘yes’ votes out to the polls will be the difference.”
In a later note of optimism, Surber added she had never seen an
election with this large a difference at the halfway point trend the
other way. Another positive was the concern she felt.
“I felt more concern from – and for – the community than I ever have
before.”
While the supporters were waiting for the vote count to start, they
took predictions on the result. They ranged from 75 to 25 percent to 53
to 47 percent. All in favor of passage. Did anyone make a prediction
against it?
“No. We wouldn’t let them in if they did,” Teaford said.
Published courtesy
of The Early Bird
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