Ferndale, Berkley return incumbents, welcome newcomers to city councils

OAKLAND COUNTY — New council members have been elected in the cities of Ferndale and Berkley.

Voters hit the polls on Nov. 4 to decide on a number of local elections in Ferndale, Berkley, Huntington Woods and Pleasant Ridge. While many of the races were uncontested, the races for council in Ferndale and Berkley saw new members elected in each city, respectively.

Ferndale saw Laura Mikulski reelected to her seat on the City Council, while Eddie Sabatini was chosen to fill a spot on council that soon will be left by the departing Greg Pawlica. Finishing in third place and missing out on a seat was Quinn Zeagler.

In unofficial results reported by the Oakland County website, Mikulski and Sabatini, who each won a four-year term, received 3,623 and 3,208 votes, and Zeagler received 2,021.

Mikulski, the city’s mayor pro tem, thanked the residents for their trust in her to reelect her for another term.

“I love what I do,” she said. “I love being able to serve Ferndale, and I hope that my leadership and my ability to effectively communicate on issues and lead with transparency — I’m very happy to see that people appreciate it and are willing to trust me for another four years.”

Sabatini will be serving on the council for the first time, and he said he was excited and humbled to be elected by the voters.

“I get humbled by the confidence that the voters placed in me,” he said. “It’s my job to work every day to earn that trust that they placed in me, and making a commitment to listen and lead with empathy, and just try to make sure that every resident’s voice is heard. That’s what I see my job as a City Council member — it’s a community advocacy position, and I take that very seriously.”

For Berkley, five people were running for three open seats with four-year terms on the council. Council members Steve Baker and Dennis Hennen were reelected to their respective seats.

The last remaining seat, to be vacated by Jessica Vilani, was won by Gary Elrod. Josh Stapp and Catherine Wade finished in fourth and fifth.

In a very tight race, Baker received 1,911 votes, Hennen received 1,803 votes and Elrod received 1,800 votes. Stapp took in 1,620 votes and Wade obtained 1,569 votes.

Elrod, who has served on Berkley’s Beautification Advisory Committee and Tree Board, is excited to take this next step in his public service career.

“I do want to recognize that it was a very close race and that I think it was well done by all the candidates. It stayed positive, so that was something that was a very enjoyable process,” he said. “I’m really excited that people have elected to put their trust in me to kind of carry through on some of the platform items that I’ve outlined since the beginning. So, I’m really excited and this is kind of a fulfillment of pursuing some higher level of public service.”

Mayoral races in three of the cities saw incumbent officials keep their positions for the next several years.

Raylon Leaks-May and Bridget Dean were reelected to two-year terms as the mayors of Ferndale and Berkley, respectively. They ran unopposed in their races.

Incumbent Pleasant Ridge Mayor Bret Scott also ran unopposed in his race, winning a four-term to continue to serve the city.

The commission races in both Huntington Woods and Pleasant Ridge both saw incumbents keep their seats in unopposed races. Jules Olsman and Joe Rozell in Huntington Woods and Alex P. Lenko and Katy Schmier in Pleasant Ridge will serve four more years in their respective cities.

Call Staff Writer Mike Koury at (586) 498-1077.