Brimfield board set
Billtown school board still uncertain

By NICK VLAHOS
and JEFF LAMPE
For The Weekly Post

While two elections contested on April 4 are decided, one remains to be finalized for The Weekly Post area.

In Farmington, Kenn Stufflebeam won as mayor with 235 of 283 votes cast, or 83 percent of the tally. Stufflebeam outdistanced Chadric J. Zessin who had 48 votes.

In Brimfield, Rachel Blodgett, Nick Butterfield and Constance Monk will serve together on the Brimfield School Board. The three won open board seats in the election April 4. Blodgett, Butterfield and Monk joined incumbent Katie Kappes among winners.

Kappes, appointed to the board in 2021, defeated Natalie Zeman 682-223 to fill the remaining two years of that term.

Less clear is the school board election in Williamsfield. Brittany Byrd, Chad Goff and Jennifer Smith were on the ballot and have vote totals. Byrd leads with 318 votes in Knox and Peoria counties, Goff has 252 and Smith has 245.

Less clear are write-in ballots cast for Brittany Gibbs and Rachel Tucker. Knox County’s election website shows a total of 366 write-in votes. But mailed-in absentee ballots will be accepted until April 18. Even so, staff in the clerk’s office said they hope to have unofficial results on the clerk’s website (co.knox.il.us/county-clerk) by the end of this week.

In Brimfield, Blodgett, Butterfield and Monk were the top three vote-getters among eight candidates who were running for the three four-year terms. They also fulfilled township-residency requirements.
Among almost 1,000 ballots, Butterfield received a field-high 602 votes. Blodgett received 528 votes, and Monk received 498. Nathan Hamilton finished fourth, with 405 votes.

Out of the running as well were Josh Murdock (328 votes), Meliss Klabel (253), Christopher Schachtrup (109) and David Hicke Jr. (105).

Turnout was 34 percent, according to the Peoria County Election Commission. Brimfield races, including the library-district board election, by far had the highest turnout percentage-wise of any the commission reported last week. The 989 school-board ballots were cast among 2,896 registered voters.

\“I was excited to see the number of people that were able to vote in this election,” Butterfield stated in an email. “It is truly exciting and humbling to me that the community got out to have their voices heard to that extent.”

That turnout might have been contrary to what Butterfield, Blodgett and Monk experienced during at least some of the campaign. According to Monk, three meet-and-greet events the trio of candidates conducted yielded little to no attendance. She found that disappointing but not surprising.

“I think there were a vocal few in the community that made it seem there was a desire for these type of events, but that didn’t appear to be reality for the majority by turnout,” Monk stated.

The election victory represents a return to the school board for Monk, who served on it from 2013-17. She believed that experience, among other things, helped her win.

“Character is important,” Monk stated. “I believe others know me to be honest, dedicated and true to who I am and what I care about.”

Butterfield and Monk are Brimfield High School graduates. Blodgett grew up in Peoria but believes her passion for the Brimfield district, as well as her professed desire to be fair, helped convince voters.

“I’ve had multiple individuals tell me they know I will listen to all sides and try to put myself in others’ shoes before jumping into decisions,” Blodgett stated.

The incoming board members are to take office April 26. They are to help hire a new superintendent to replace Tony Shinall, who is to take over July 1 at Princeville. The Brimfield application deadline was March 28. Interviews are to be conducted this month, and a board decision likely by the end of May.

The superintendent hiring is to be the initial priority for the new board members, they said. All three appear to be on the same page regarding what they are looking for in a new school-district leader.

“I want to find someone who has the same values as our community, someone that has a long-term vision of where they want to take Brimfield schools over the next 10-plus years,” Butterfield stated. “Our kids and staff deserve a long-tenure superintendent.”