Gilfillan, Nonnenmacher Win Board of Education Seats

UPDATE: 3:38 p.m. Matt Gilfillan and John Nonnenmacher won seats on the School District of the Chathams' Board of Education Tuesday, defeating Greg Borsinger and Ken Aul in a race for two township seats.

Gilfillan and Nonnenmacher will fill the seats vacated by Board President Roger Rogalin and board member Heather Turnbull, who did not run for re-election. The two will begin their three-year terms at the next board meeting April 26.

Nonnenmacher received 907 votes, while Gilfillan won 955. Aul garnered 555 votes and Borsinger received 554. The numbers were made official after absentee ballots were counted this morning.

Both winners said they were happy the school budget had passed—it did so by a count of 2,497-1,773—and said they were ready to get to work.

"I am honored and humbled to have won this election," Gilfillan said. "I look forward to working with John and the rest of the board to continue to deliver the great education the children deserve."

Nonnenmacher said he wants to meet with the other board members at some point in the near future to discuss some of the issues the district faces.

"I'm pretty excited about it," he said. "I'm looking to maintain Chatham's excellent school system and with working with other people to do it. And I'm glad the budget got passed. So as far as I'm concerned, it's all good news."

Not everyone who came to the polls voted for a Board of Education candidate. Borsinger said he felt the election was mostly about the budget, and said voters weren't focusing as much on the other election on the ballot.

"I feel also that I was a candidate that represented something out of the ordinary," Borsinger said. "I wasn't as in with the school system as the others, and I maybe didn't do a good enough job just getting my name out there."

Board Vice President Steve Barna, who was running unopposed for re-election for his borough seat, garnered 1,227 votes.