Best wins municipal judge

According to unofficial election results from the Seneca County Board of Elections, Rhonda Best has won the Tiffin-Fostoria Municipal Court judge seat. Best will serve the unexpired term ending Dec. 31, 2025. Best received 11,300 votes between Seneca, Hancock and Wood counties. Her win comes after she was appointed the court's judge after former Judge Mark Repp was suspended from the practice of law by the state Supreme Court and the seat was later declared vacant last year. She won the Republican primary earlier this year beating Repp for the Republican Party nomination. Best was born and raised in Tiffin. She is a lifelong member of Tiffin's St. Mary Catholic Church and a 1996 graduate of Calvert High School. She graduated from Heidelberg University in 2002 with a bachelor's in English writing. Best then graduated with her Juris Doctorate from the University of Toledo. She is a mother of two. After graduating from law school, Judge Best accepted a position at Seneca County Common Pleas Court – Probate Division, with the Honorable Paul F. Kutscher, Jr., as an investigator and staff attorney. In 2006, she was offered a position as a Seneca County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney in the Felony Crimes Division, moving to the Civil and Juvenile Divisions in 2013. In 2018, Judge Best accepted a position in Crawford County as an assistant prosecutor in the Misdemeanor Division, a position that allowed her to learn new skills and ideas from a different court system. In 2022, Seneca County Prosecutor Derek W. DeVine asked Best to return to Seneca County to replace two prosecutors in the Municipal Court. In 2022, she created the Seneca-Wyandot-Crawford (SWC) Women's Bar Association as a collaborative effort to mentor young attorneys and recruit new attorneys to rural areas to provide improved access to legal services to communities with fewer attorneys. While working as an assistant prosecutor, Best also provided counsel to local communities as Solicitor, for the villages of Bloomville, Chatfield and Nevada, and Special Prosecutor, for the cities of Upper Sandusky and Findlay and Seneca County while working full-time in Crawford County. Since being appointed, Judge Best has been certified by the Ohio Supreme Court for Participating in Victory of Transition (PIVOT) drug court and has completed several educational programs to improve the operations and services at Municipal Court. Additionally, through Judge Best's efforts, the Court was awarded funding from the State to improve access to justice for the community by way of an improved probation management system. In the May 2023 Republican primary, Judge Best received approximately 74% of the vote and was nominated. Judge Best recently added a daughter-in-law, Alisha, to her family and currently lives in rural Seneca County, where she enjoys being involved in her church and community, and spending time with her family and several pets, including two beagles. Seneca County results According to Seneca County Board of Elections unofficial results, the following are the results of local county races and issues. *Results are Seneca County only Attica Mayor – Nathan Frisch - 257Council – Nicole Lenhart - 239Bettsville Mayor – Scott Harrison - 133Joyce Harrison - 115Bloomville Mayor – David Auble Jr - 208Council – Sonya Larson - 166Green Springs MayorDerek Knieriemen - 122Steve Bower - 78Council – Daniel Shafer - 167New Riegel Mayor – Lawrence Bouillon - 76Council – Curtis Pugh - 74Republic Mayor – Donald Holmer - 162Council – Tonya Hemmer - 134Write-in - 21Adams Twp. Trustee – Gary Hoepf - 409Fiscal officer – Joline Humbert - 403Big Spring Twp. Trustee – Gary Schalk - 584Fiscal officer – Matthew Clouse - 599Bloom Twp. Trustee – Adam Lutz - 454Fiscal officer – Susan Ziegler - 442Clinton Twp. Trustee – Randy Kuhn - 1,476Fiscal officer – Stephen Welter - 1,471Eden Twp. Trustee – Vern Morter - 711Fiscal officer – Julie Vogel - 706Hopewell Twp. Trustee – Troy Huth - 903Fiscal officer – Laura Schreiner - 884Jackson Twp. Trustee - Timothy Reinhart - 264Amber Ginnever - 198Fiscal officer – Heidi Miller - 407Liberty Twp. Trustee – Timothy Lynch - 569Fiscal officer – Adam Richter - 536Loudon Twp. Trustee – Roger Holman - 635Fiscal officer – Victoria Coppus - 611Pleasant Twp. Trustee – Douglas Stacy - 519Fiscal officer – Jennifer Adelsperger - 526 Reed Twp. Trustee – Charles Miller - 257Fiscal officer – Renee Miller - 253Scipio Twp. Trustee – Rodney Miller - 546Fiscal officer – Karen Aichholz - 539Seneca Twp. Trustee – Gregory Smith - 536Fiscal officer – Bradley Radison - 509Thompson Twp. Trustee - Jacob Ziegler - 193Kevin Oney - 255Fiscal officer – Jessica Ziegler - 382Venice Twp. Trustee – Brett Meyers - 501Fiscal officer – Lisa Heisler - 33 Member of Board of Education ARCADIA LSD Lindsey Boes - 1Charity Ritzler - 0David Roberts Sr. - 0 Member of Board of Education BUCKEYE CENTRAL LSD Bryan Pope - 290Michael Kalb - 183Jerome Heydinger - 155Member of Board of Education BELLEVUE CSD Shannon Smith - 320Stephanie Brown - 308Write-in 21Member of Board of Education CAREY EVD Shawn Burgei - 28Ron Conti - 36Member of the Board of Education CLYDE-GREEN SPRINGS EVD Matthew Jenne - 340Aaron Wilson - 374Member of Board of Education HOPEWELL LOUDON LSD Adam Alt - 748Kelly Cook - 806Kevin Kreais - 966Member of Board of Education LAKOTA LSD Chris Chalfin - 428Barbara Lehmann - 418Member of Board of Education MOHAWK LSD Danielle Clouse - 761Carl Long Jr - 693Shawn Detterman - 127 Member of Board of Education NEW RIEGEL LSD Darin Nye - 707Member of Board of Education NEW RIEGEL LSD Rodney Biggert - 597Member of Board of Education OLD FORT LSD Evan Baker - 820Write-in - 91Member of Board of Education SENECA EAST LSD Aaron Lantz - 764Marianna Snavely - 855 Jay Zeiter - 748Jeff Fullen - 459Ashley Mackowiak - 416Michala Mohr - 397Member of Board of Education Vanlue LSD Andrew Mason - 26Kenneth Walerius - 23Attica-Venice Township Joint Cemetery For - 414Against - 190Pleasant Township Tax Levy Fire For - 386Against - 216Scipio Township Tax Levy Fire For - 375Against - 231Carey EVSD Income Tax For - 25Against - 26Clyde-Green Springs EVSD Tax Levy For - 238Against - 306 Bloomville Village Tax Levy Police For - 102Against - 123Bloomville Village Electric Aggregation For - 121Against - 102Local Liquor Option US Petro Tiffin 4-C For - 329Against -81 Local Liquor Option Walt's Tavern Reed Township For - 250Against - 43 Member of Governing Board of ESC Hancock County ESC Karen Flanagan - 16Terry Huffman - 14Justin M. Shank - 19Member of Governing Board of ESC Mid-Ohio ESC Write-In Totals - 34Member of Governing Board of ESC North Central Ohio ESC District 1 Write-In Totals - 317 Member of Governing Board of ESC North Central Ohio ESC District 3 Write-In Totals - 115