Ferndale

Two incumbents re-elected to Ferndale school board

By Jeremy Selweski
C & G Staff Writer

By Jeremy Selweski

C & G Staff Writer

FERNDALE — Keith Warnick and Bruce Bethuy, current members of the Ferndale Board of Education, were re-elected in the school board elections held on May 6.

Competing for two positions on the board with challenger Ken Veenstra, the incumbents won by a decisive margin, with Warnick receiving 42.2 percent of the vote and Bethuy earning 35.9 percent. Meanwhile, only 20.7 percent of voters cast their ballots in favor of Veenstra.

Warnick, who was first elected in 2004 and has served as vice president since 2006, said he is happy to be given the chance to serve the school district for another four years. “We always look forward to seeing the support of our followers,” he said. “It shows that people like what we’ve done over the past four years.”

At press time, Bethuy and Veenstra could not be reached for comment.

Voter turnout for the election was nowhere near as high as city officials had hoped. City Clerk Cherilynn Tallman said that turnout in Ferndale, at just 2.9 percent, was “disappointingly low.”

“I always hope for high numbers,” she continued. “I had hoped for (this year’s turnout) to be in the double digits.”

Warnick, 55, also would have liked to see more voters show up to the polls. “I personally think school board elections are extremely important,” he said, “especially in a small city such as Ferndale.”

Ferndale’s results were consistent with low countywide voter turnout numbers of just 5.3 percent. Turnout results for the school district as a whole — which, in addition to Ferndale, also includes Pleasant Ridge, Royal Oak Township and eastern Oak Park — were unavailable at press time.

According to Tallman, this year’s turnout was far lower than the previous school board elections in May 2007, when the turnout was 10.8 percent, largely because there was not a large citywide issue on the ballot. In that election, voters came to the polls in stronger numbers to vote on a millage to pay for the city’s proposed library improvement plan.

This year’s election also marked the first time that Ferndale had operated under its new precinct boundaries, which were modified in a Dec. 26 vote by the City Council to reduce the total number from 16 to nine.

“It went very well,” she said. “We did not get very many calls from residents” about problems with the new polling locations.

And with the election process now over, the board members are ready to get back to work. Warnick said he is looking forward to advancing the recent progress in Ferndale Public Schools.

“We want to continue to focus on the future and moving this district in a positive direction,” he said.

Ferndale Board of Education results

Keith Warnick         476 votes  42.2 percent

Bruce Bethuy         405 votes  35.9 percent

Ken Veenstra         234 votes  20.7 percent

Write-Ins               14 votes  1.2 percent

1,129 total votes

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Jeremy Selweski at jSelweski@candgnews.com or at (586)218-5004.