Elma City Council incumbent David Blackett won re-election last week by a comfortable margin.

Blackett earned 299 votes (63.62 percent) while challenger Elroy Papke garnered 171 votes (36.38 percent).

Blackett is finishing his second term in office. He was first elected in 2009 and was re-elected in 2013. He has served as mayor pro tem for several years.

Blackett said having served eight years on the council, he’s happy to do another four. He attributed his reelection to Elma being currently well-positioned in terms of economic growth.

“I think our city is growing and doing well right now, and I think that people just want to continue that,” Blackett reasoned.

Papke made an unsuccessful bid for mayor in 2015. Papke was third in that primary election and was not on general elections ballots.

Running uncontested were Pat Miller for Elma Council Position 1 and Tom Boling for Elma Council Position 3. Both are incumbents.

The election will be certified on Nov. 28.

Schools

In area school district election results for Nov. 7, Larry Bridenback earned 916 votes (71.79 percent) to Chad Searls’ 360 votes (28.21 percent) in the race for Elma School District Director District 1.

In the Mary M. Knight School Board Director Position 1 race, Jennifer Phipps earned 148 votes (50.51 percent) compared to Leroy T. Valley’s 145 votes (49.49 percent).