Incumbents win races for Kettering council, school board

Voters in Kettering were casting ballots Tuesday to elect city council and school board members. NICK BLIZZARD/STAFF

Credit: NICK BLIZZARD/STAFF

Credit: NICK BLIZZARD/STAFF

Voters in Kettering were casting ballots Tuesday to elect city council and school board members. NICK BLIZZARD/STAFF

All Kettering incumbents appear to have held off challengers — one race much closer than the others — Tuesday night.

Two school board members seem to have won by wide margins and another by slightly more than 1%, unofficial voting results from the Montgomery County Board of Elections.

With all 43 precincts reporting, results have Jennifer Slanker Kane at 32.8% and Chrissie Richard has 29.7% in the race for two seats while Bill Lautar has 50.56 in a race with Lynn Quillen for a third seat.

In city council races, Lisa Duvall has 57.5% in her bid for re-election of the District 1 city council seat with all nine precincts reporting. Meanwhile, Bryan Suddith has 62.5% of the vote for the District 4 slot with the board of elections showing all 11 precincts reporting.

For school board, Kane and Richards faced challenges for full terms by Jason LeBrun and Steve White, both of whom have sought to fill recent vacancies.

Lautar and Quillen squared off to fill the unexpired term that ends Dec. 31, 2025 for a third seat. Kane is the only of the six candidates to have been elected. Richards and Lautar were both appointed to fill vacancies in the past year.

For city council, Duvall was seeking re-election for the first time. Neither her opponent, Joseph Overholser, Suddith nor LaSue J. Juniel have been elected.

Juniel and Suddith are seeking the seat formerly held by longtime incumbent Bruce Duke, who is term limited.

School board

Kane was appointed to the school board in 2013 before winning a seat in 2015 and again four years later.

She said her experience sets her apart from other candidates. Kane cites the expansion of Fairmont High School’s Career Technology Center and the creation of the Performing Arts Center among the district’s accomplishments during her board tenure.

Richards, a Kettering Health executive, said she sought election to keep the district strong academically and provide students with a safe environment.

She touted her background in strategic planning and business development as attributes for voters to keep her on the board.

Academics, fiscally responsible, and student safety and wellness are among her top concerns. Richards said she plans to work with administrators to establish and monitor specific goals in student achievement and classroom instruction.

Lautar is a lifelong Kettering resident was appointed to a seat after Jim Ambrose stepped down this spring.

Lautar served two terms on Kettering City Council ending in 2021 after working more than 40 years in education, much of it as Kettering schools student services director.

City council

District 1

Duvall said the biggest issues facing Kettering are business development, land redevelopment and affordable housing. Drawing in new businesses and supporting existing businesses is a priority for her.

She said the rising cost of housing is forcing families out of Kettering, so she will work to bring more middle-income and workforce housing to the city. She said land use and zoning policies are crucial to that effort, calling on the city to be flexible and meet the needs of residents and developers.

District 4

Suddith said his top priorities will be ensuring that citizens have access to city council, continuing Kettering’s success with first-time homebuyer programs, and finding ways to add to the housing inventory of the city.

Rather than tout specific plans of his own on those fronts, he said he would “be the cheerleader and ambassador” for the great day-to-day work that Kettering’s city staff does. He said the city is fortunate to have “such a deep bench of talent managing our city.”

Suddith is deputy director of the Montgomery County Veterans Service Commission and she he was a former board member of Kettering Parks, Recreation and Cultural Arts.

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