MIAMI COUNTY — The Miami County Board of Elections rejected one Troy resident’s petition to run for city council for the 2022-2023 term during a special meeting held on Monday.

Loretta Phillips filed a petition to run as a Democratic candidate for the Second Ward for Troy City Council. The Miami County Prosecutor’s Office provided an opinion that the petition was invalid on the grounds it failed to state the specific seat Phillips was seeking on two of the three parts of the petition and had an insufficient number of signatures on the remaining part of the petition. The board unanimously voted to reject the petition.

Republican Kristie Marshall filed to run for the Second Ward seat and would have challenged Phillips after the May Primary. Her petition was approved. The Second Ward seat is currently occupied by John Terwilliger. Terwilliger did not refile for another term to represent the Second Ward. Terwilliger failed to respond to Miami Valley Today’s request for comment on the matter.

The following residents’ petitions to run for a Troy City Council seat for the 2022-2023 term were approved by the board of elections:

President of Troy City Council William Lutz refiled for another term and is unopposed.

The city’s First Ward did not have anyone file for the council seat. Current First Ward representative Zach Allen did not refile for another term on council. Last week, Allen said, “My wealth management firm is growing exponentially and I need to be there for my team. Additionally, I am not sure that I will be living in the First Ward for the next three years, so I did not want to make a commitment that I had to back away from.”

At-large council members, Republicans Todd Severt, William Rozell, and Lynne Snee have all refiled for another term and will run unopposed.

Third Ward council member John Schweser did not refile for another term. He has served on the council for seven consecutive terms. Republicans Samuel Pierce and Joseph Girolamo have filed to run for that council seat in May.

Schweser said, “After seven terms on Troy City Council, I have decided to not seek re-election. My wife will soon be retiring and we plan on traveling. There’s a great deal of this country we’ve never seen and our goal is to pull our travel trailer and see as much of it as we can while we still can. It has been a huge honor to serve the citizens of Troy, but the time has come to move on.”

Fourth Ward representative Bobby Phillips, Fifth Ward representative William Twiss and Sixth Ward representative Jeffrey Schilling all refiled for another term and are unopposed.

For the May Special Election, five resolutions were filed by deadline:

• For Miami County voters, the Miami County Public Health District seeks to renew its 0.4-mill operating levy. Miami County voters will consider the levy except for city of Troy residents due to its annual general fund support and Piqua residents as Piqua operates its own health department.

• Tipp City seeks the renewal of its combined two income tax levies

• The Piqua Public Library, under the Piqua City Schools’s guardianship, seeks the renewal of its 1.3-mills tax levy for current expenses

• Troy-Hayner Cultural Center, under the Troy City Schools’ guardianship, is seeking a renewal of its 0.85-mill tax levy for operating expenses

• Troy City School District seeks a renewal of its 5.8-mills tax levy for current expenses.