Carl Junction voters approve school bond, reject use tax

Apr. 2—CARTHAGE, Mo. — Voters in Carl Junction said an overwhelming yes to an $18.5 million bond issue, but they voted no on a city use tax by a three-vote margin, although the latter vote was so close the outcome is still uncertain.

The school bond issue, which needed a supermajority of 57.1% of voters to pass, was approved with 1,424, or 72.5%, of voters saying "yes" and 539, or 27.5% saying "no."

The proposal, dubbed Project KIDS by supporters, was billed as a no-tax-increase bond issue because it extended the district's current debt service levy for 10 years.

The proceeds will pay for a variety of maintenance and improvements, including about $1 million for a classroom building and other improvements at the school farm that was recently dedicated.

The farm sits on 7 acres of land donated by the Asbell family and includes an incomplete barn donated by Halle Roper, a recent graduate of Carl Junction schools, and her family.

The bond issue would also pay to build new baseball and softball fields and an indoor facility dedicated to the school's archery and ROTC programs.

The bond issue will also pay for safety upgrades such as new doors in some places and installing a film on the doors that will preserve the integrity of the windows if someone tries to shoot through them or if storm debris hits them.

The district will also convert a commons area in the Primary 2-3 Building into four new classrooms and take care of a number of roofing and HVAC projects.

—Carl Junction's use tax, on the ballot for the fifth time, received 561 "no" votes and 558 "yes" votes, although provisional ballots remain to be counted.

When members of the Carl Junction Board of Aldermen voted last year to put the use tax on the ballot, they committed to using the proceeds for public safety, including providing more revenue for the police department.

A use tax is similar to a sales tax except it is charged on items sold online from out-of-state vendors. Carl Junction's use tax would have been the same as the city sales tax.

—Jasper County's proposed countywide use tax was approved by about 61% of the voters.

The count was 5,150 in favor and 3,288 opposed.

The tax will provide another stream of revenue to support county government.

—The only other countywide election was for six members of the Jasper County Emergency Services Board of Directors, the board that governs the countywide 911 and communications network.

The only race where there was a contest was for the two four-year Eastern District seats.

Three people ran for the two terms, and Brandy Corum, with 2,163 votes and Danny Stanley, with 2,144 votes, won those terms.

Chanti George received 1,971 votes in that race.

Incumbent William "Bill" Hawkins Jr. won the two-year term as Eastern District director unopposed.

No one ran for the one two-year Western District seat, but 461 write-in ballots were cast. Those results will be available later this week.

Candidates Jeremiah Norton and Steven Weaver ran for the two four-year Western District seats, and both were elected.

Local voteS

Voters across the county also had their say on a raft of city council and school board races.

—In the Carl Junction School District, newcomer Melinda Brown and incumbent Kasey Cowger were elected to three-year terms. Brown had 1,191 votes, Cowger had 1,038 votes, and challenger Terry Higgins had 990 votes.

—In the race for the Carl Junction Board of Aldermen, Walter Hays defeated James Shanks for the Ward 2 two-year term by a 147-54 vote.

No one ran for the Ward 1 seat, but 55 write-in votes were cast, with results available later this week.

Incumbents Bob McAfee and Roger Spencer were unopposed and won the Ward 3 and Ward 4 elections respectively.

—In the race for Carthage Board of Education, Mark Westhoff, with 1,289 votes, and Maria Sanchez, with 1,150 votes, were elected to the two open three-year terms.

Among the other candidates, Bill Scheerer got 698 votes and Nathan Scott got 418.

—The city of Carthage will have new leadership after Tuesday's election.

Carthage voters put five new City Council members into their two-year seats for the next two years, including two who ran unopposed.

The results were:

—In Ward 1, Challenger Derek Peterson with 71 votes defeated incumbent Brandi Ensor with 63 votes.

—In Ward 2, Loretta "Lori" Leece ran unopposed and won with 41 votes.

—In Ward 3, Dustin Edge won the seat with 155 votes, defeating incumbent Robin Blair, who had 104, and former council member Mike Daugherty with 23.

—In Ward 4, Tom Barlow was elected without opposition with 470 votes.

—In Ward 5, Jana Hunter Schramm received 212 votes to defeat incumbent Mark Elliff, who received 115 votes.

—In the three-way race for two seats on Webb City School Board, incumbent Jason Woodmansee got the most votes with 813 and challenger Erin Taylor won the second open seat with 630 votes. Incumbent Lisa Robinson received 605 votes.

—On the Webb City Council, incumbents were the only candidates.

Ray Edwards won in Ward 1, Alisa Barroeta in Ward 2, Jerry Fisher in Ward 3 and Jim Dawson in Ward 4.

Newton County

—In the race for Neosho Board of Education, incumbent Dan Haskins and Cody Crocker won the two three-year terms. Counting the McDonald County vote, Haskins had 551 votes, Crocker had 496 votes, incumbent Steffen Wiest had 492 votes and Audrey Dixon received 275 votes.

The Globe's initial reporting on Wednesday was incorrect because it failed to include the McDonald County result.

—The winner of the race for Neosho City Council member at large was Charles Collinsworth with 325 votes against Jake Evans with 169 votes.

Ashton Robinson was unopposed in her race for the Ward 1 seat and received 66 votes.