By SHELLEY TERRY - Staff Writer - sterry@starbeacon.com
ASHTABULA TOWNSHIP — An incumbent and a former township park commissioner won two trustee seats Tuesday in Ashtabula Township.
Incumbent Stephen J. McClure and Bambi L. Paulchel won with 43 percent, and 25 percent, respectively, according to the unofficial results of the Ashtabula County Board of Elections.
McClure garnered 2,791 votes, while Paulchel got 1,625, according to the Board of Elections.
Voters may have remembered Paulchel from her days of cleaning up Lake Shore Park.
Township Trustee Samuel Bucci lost his bid for re-election after more than 12 years of service. Prior to that, he served on the Buckeye Local School Board.
Bucci gathered 1,046 votes Tuesday, and another candidate, Robert Essig, collected 1,051 votes, according to the unofficial results of the Ashtabula County Board of Elections.
It’s been a turbulent year for Ashtabula Township trustees, especially Bucci, who had a civil lawsuit filed against him last November, accusing him of sexual-harassing a mentally disabled former township employee.
The same civil lawsuit accused the other two trustees, McClure and Joe Pete Sr., of covering up the sexual harassment.
The trustees have adamantly denied the charges.
