Voters oust Commissioner Lautner after nearly three decades, approve millages
From staff reports
Melinda Lautner, a fixture on the Leelanau County Board of Commissioners for nearly three decades, resoundingly lost yesterday’s primary election to fellow Republican Steve Yoder, by a count of 401 votes to 241 votes, according to preliminary results that were not yet certified.
Lautner’s Aug. 6 loss to the 32-year-old Yoder, currently a Solon Township trustee, came in her first ever primary election challenge since she joined the Board in 1995.
Yoder will now represent the Republican ticket in District 7—composed of reliably conservative Solon and Kasson Townships.
Yoder, who manages the Yoder Boxes family business in Solon, worked part-time as a staffer for State Senator John DaMoose (Republican, Harbor Springs) and served for six years as vice chair of the Leelanau County Republican Party.
Nevertheless, Lautner told the Glen Arbor Sun that “Steve was approached by some Democrat who asked him to run against me.”
Yoder countered that Lautner informed him she wasn’t going to run again, so he filed the paperwork to do so.
“A lot of community members reached out to me and said they wanted a fresher voice,” Yoder told the Sun. “I always look at any issue with an open mind. I don’t show up just to say ‘no’. “I want to work with anybody I can to improve the County for the betterment of citizens rather than pushing an agenda. My agenda is what the community wants.”
Lautner claimed she’s never had an agenda and said she [is] more conservative than Yoder.
Read more about Commissioner Lautner’s controversial positions with respect to the Leelanau County Energy Futures Task Force in our Aug. 8 edition of the Glen Arbor Sun.
County-wide millages pass convincingly
With most precincts reporting, it appears that Leelanau County voters have approved all county-wide millages.
The Leelanau County Early Childhood Services Millage Proposal had 5,365 votes in support to 3,060 against.
The Leelanau County Senior Citizens Services Millage Renewal and Restoration Proposal had 6,465 votes in support to 1,994 against.
And the Leelanau County Roads and Highways Maintenance and Repair Millage Renewal Proposal had 6,713 votes in support to 1,736 against.
