Shelby Township

Six current Shelby board members earn Republican nominations

By Brad D. Bates
C & G Staff Writer

» click to enlarge « Photo by Donna Agusti Shelby Township Treasurer Paul Viar, far left, and trustees Paula Filar and Michael Flynn celebrate as results come in for the Aug. 7 township primary elections. Photo by Donna Agusti Shelby Township Treasurer Paul Viar, far left, and trustees Paula Filar and Michael Flynn celebrate as results come in for the Aug. 7 township primary elections.

Six of the current seven members of the Shelby Township Board of Trustees made it through the key Aug. 7 primary and believed it was indicative of residents’ approval of their past practices.

Current Township Supervisor Richard Stathakis and Township Clerk Stanley Grot were approved for the Republican nomination for the Nov. 6 general election, and current Township Trustee Michael Flynn won the nomination for township treasurer over fellow Trustee Lisa Manzella.

“I’m just happy that our board will have a chance to work together for four more years to have our progress continue,” Stathakis said.

“We’ve been working together as a team, and now we have that opportunity to work together as a team for four more years.”

Stathakis won his second consecutive Republican nomination, besting former Shelby Township Police Chief Bob Leman with 56.1 percent of the vote. Stathakis faces independent David Erickson in the November general election.

“This one seemed to take more of my time because I’m working a full day and campaigning in my spare time, which I don’t have much of anyway,” Stathakis said of his campaign for re-election compared to his first run for supervisor.

“My weekends were pretty much taken up going door to door and strategizing, so it’s been very busy the last three months.”

Flynn topped Manzella with 53.6 percent of the vote to replace current Treasurer Paul Viar, who retired from his fulltime treasurer position, immediately following the November election because he will run unopposed.

“It was a very tough race, and I think you could argue that I had one of the toughest races,” Flynn said. “Frankly the people of Shelby Township saw through the main talking points of their campaign.

“The people had enough and are tired of people pretending to be conservatives that really weren’t.”

Grot, who bested Richard Batchelder with 52.1 percent of the vote, will also run unopposed in the November election, but the township’s four trustees seat will be contested.

The top four vote-getters earning the November Republican trustee nominations were current trustees Douglas Wozniak (11.9 percent) and Paula Filar (11.7 percent), Viar (11.2 percent) and newcomer Nick Nightingale (10.4 percent).

The trustee seats will be contested in November as Clarence Cook ran unopposed as a Democrat and received 1,855 votes, which would have placed him 11th in the field of 14 Republican candidates.
 

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Brad D. Bates at bbates@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1029.