LEBANON — Main Street reconstruction is a go, but the city manager is just plain gone, it appeared Wednesday, one day after Tuesday's City Council election.

        Voters decisively bounced three council members who had been part of council's ruling faction, instead favoring a slate led by Councilwoman Amy Brewer.

        “We've really got a major change,” Mrs. Brewer said Wednesday. She and Councilman James Reinhard, whose seat was not up, often have been on the losing end of 5-2 votes for the past 18 months.

        No more.

        Both challengers Mrs. Brewer campaigned with — fellow teacher James Norris II and school board member Norm Dreyer — were elected Tuesday, along with Jim Hause, a retiree of the city electric department.

        The first order of business for the new council, which will be seated the first week in December, will be completing the budget process.

        “We can't start the year with this budget,” Mr. Reinhard said of a plan being crafted by the current council. He wants some salaries reduced and possibly some positions cut to improve the city's finances.

        First to go will likely be City Manager James Patrick, whom Mrs. Brewer and Mr. Reinhard had tried to remove several times in the past.

        “I haven't changed my perspective,” Mrs. Brewer said.

        The new council also will revisit the city's opposition to a land swap between Lebanon City Schools and Turtlecreek Township trustees. The schools and the township wanted to trade chunks of parcels they owned west and northeast of town, giving both better geographic coverage.

        Lebanon officials' refusal to deannex land the township wanted to use, however, held the deal up. “We can only help one another,” Mrs. Brewer said. “I'd like to see it back on the table.”

        One issue will not be changed by the election: the plan to rebuild two miles of Main Street. Council narrowly approved the Ohio Department of Transportation-led project last year despite pleas from a vocal group of residents and businesses.

        The vote could have shifted if Councilman Mark Flick and challenger Gary Casimir had won Tuesday, but that didn't happen.

        The project is set to be awarded in January, with work to begin in the spring and take about two years.

        Mr. Hause is particularly adamant about the need for the reconstruction, in the works for three decades. Sewers under the street have collapsed, he noted.

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