Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


There was a major shake-up in Genoa Township following Tuesday’s Primary Election.

In a very close race for the supervisor seat, Republican challenger Kevin Spicher edged ahead of incumbent Bill Rogers by five votes.

Un-official Livingston County Election results show Spicher had 1,530 votes, and Rogers garnered 1,525.

Treasurer Robin Hunt ran unopposed.

In the trustee race, nine Republican candidates were on the ballot. The top four are Bill Reiber, Candie Hovarter, Richard Soucy, and Todd Walker.

For the clerk position, Republican Janene Deaton received the most votes and came out ahead of Diana Lowe and Deborah McCormick. Lowe currently serves on the board and retired as a clerk from the City of Brighton after 25 years. Deaton brings a real estate background and will face Democrat Monica Craven in November. It’s the only seat in the township that had a Democratic challenger that will be contested in the fall.

Longtime Genoa Clerk Polly Skolarus has served in the role since 1986 and has been at odds with board for years. She was previously censured and given reduced duties. Skolarus did not run for the clerk post Tuesday but did run as a candidate for a board seat.

Spicher told WHMI he is ahead but there are still some votes to be counted, including some military absentee and provisional ballots that were challenged but he’s very confident everything will be counted correctly and “when the dust settles, I will be the winner”.

Spicher previously ran for the same seat in 2012. He’s a longtime resident and business owner.

Spicher said he really hasn’t been happy with the direction the township has been going. He said he would like to see more of the traditional Genoa Township view, as opposed to some of the development and additions that have been going on.

As for the changeover on the board, Spicher said “voters picked who they wanted to pick”. He said it’s quite a shake-up and definitely an eye-opener, and he thinks maybe the voters wanted something more traditional like what they came to the township for.

With the whole board changeover, Spicher said it certainly will be interesting but he’s very confident that he and the other candidates will be able to adjust on the fly and do a great job - adding really wants to focus on transparency and letting people know what’s going on.

All election results are un-offical until certified by the Board of Canvassers. They can be viewed in the provided link.