BURLINGTON — Winning elections doesn't seem to agree with Julie Metzger.

        The incumbent Florence City Council member won the race Tuesday with 4,764 (19.67 percent) votes, but, like the last time she won, she wasn't feeling well.

        Ms. Metzger spent the early evening at the Boone County Courthouse. While she watched the returns come in, she talked about what made her sick this week and in 1998.

        “Every election, I get sick,” Ms. Metzger said. “Two years ago I had a severe reaction to poison ivy; it was down my throat, I couldn't talk. This year, I injured my back and I have a cold.”

        But Ms. Metzger was a little surprised she garnered the most votes.

        “I guess it says people are happy with what we've done the last two years,” she said.

Other winners
        Joining Ms. Metzger are fellow incumbents Dale Stephens with 17.79 percent of the vote (4,307 votes), Linda Shaffer with 16.85 percent (4,081 votes) and Melodee Grubbs Merrell with 14.78 percent or 3,579 votes. Newcomer Ted Bushelman got 15.03 percent (3,640 votes), and former Councilman Mel Carroll had 15.87 percent (3,844 votes).

        For Mr. Carroll, the prin cipal at Ockerman Middle School, Tuesday was a return to council after losing the 1998 mayoral race to Diane Ewing Whalen. He served from 1981 to 1986 and 1990 to 1998.

        “I have served the community for 30 years,” Mr. Carroll said. “I have been in touch with the issues.”

        Mr. Stephens called finishing second a “humbling experience.”

        “I hope I can live up to that,” he said.

        And Ms. Merrell doesn't mind finishing sixth.

        “Just barely, but I'm in,” she said. “That's all that counts.”

Growth issues
        Two issues are most important: the fate of a proposed connector road from Hopeful Church Road and behind the Florence Square shopping center to Mall Road; and what kind of recreational facility to build.

        The road has been discussed for at least the last four years. Mr. Stephens said the current proposal will never work with residents in the Chelsea Square subdivision.

        Mr. Carroll, meanwhile, wants no connector road whatsoever.

        “It primarily creates a thoroughfare,” Mr. Carroll said. “Cutting through a neighborhood is not conducive to improving the quality of life of the west side neighborhoods.”

        As for recreational needs, candidates said a proposal to put a park near the Flor ence Government Center on Ewing Boulevard is the most workable plan.

        “It's a concept, but we're looking at it,” Ms. Merrell said. “We want to make sure it's good, it's right and it's what the people want.”

Walton council seats change hands
        Quality of life was the main issue in the Walton City Council race, too, but a practically new council will deal with it.

        Incumbents Mike Wood (who finished first with 463 votes) and Richard Roberts won re-election, but newcomers Lee R. Frakes, Mark Watts, Mike Cason and Anna Eddins Palmer won their first terms.

        Mr. Watts wants the city to grow slowly so the Walton-Verona school district can catch up.

        “We need to get the school bigger; it's about maxed out kids-wise,” Mr. Watts said. “The high school is only big enough for about 200 students more.”

        Messrs. Frakes, Cason and Wood want to increase the size of the Walton Police Department so the city can have 24-hour coverage.

        “We've got two officers; now we need two or three more,” Mr. Wood said. “The money should be in the budget for that.”

        Mr. Wood also said he would push for boosting salaries and requiring new officers to sign a three-year contract.

        “We've had a problem with the city not paying enough and becoming a training ground,” Mr. Cason said.

Also: Soil & Water; Union commission
        In other races:

        ãJames Brady Walton, Bernard Kunkel, Rick Brueggemann and David Kuchle became Soil and Water Conservation District No. 4 supervisors.

        Mr. Kuchle said the Soil and Water Conservation race was more about educating the public about farming than about development.

        ãDon Kirby, Gary McCormick, Jonathan Jennings and Wayne McClellan were elected to Union City Commission.

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