By Jason KUROSU and Mary O’KEEFE

Glendale’s 2015 municipal election results show a number of incumbents reelected to their positions across the board, as Tuesday’s voters kept many of their representatives in place, as well as retaining the current at-large election process.

These are preliminary results:

Paula Devine has retained her seat on the Glendale City Council, receiving the most votes among the 28 precincts, while Vartan Gharpetian came in second, replacing Dave Weaver on the council.

“Everyone said that incumbents have an edge but I think [if you think that] it’s the best way to lose,” Devine said.

Devine did not take anything for granted. She attended several events throughout the Glendale and Crescenta Valley areas, however she had been doing this all along.

“I look at every event as a ‘meet and greet,’” she said.

At these events she was able to talk to residents about their issues and what they would like to see happen in their area, Devine said. This will be her second term on the city council. She felt that those who may not have voted for her the first time did this time after seeing her commitment and work on the council.

Devine knows this new term will pose some new issues for her that she hasn’t dealt with as a member of the council.

“The budget is coming up. That will be a lot of hours and work. I have a lot of homework to do,” she said.

Another incumbent successful in retaining her seat was Nayiri Nahabedian, who will continue serving on the Glendale Unified School District board of education. The second seat on the board, which will be vacated by departing board member Sandra Russell, will be filled by Jennifer Freemon.

“I am both proud and humbled to be elected as the next school board member!” said Freemon soon after the election results were released. “I look forward to a productive four years of keeping our great GUSD schools great!”

Anthony Tartaglia and Vahe Peroomian will also retain their seats on the Glendale Community College board of trustees.

Four ballot measures were also featured on the April ballot, two of which would have affected future elections. Measure D and Measure E were both rejected by voters, keeping elections for the Glendale City Council and Glendale Unified School District as at-large elections. The measures would have altered the elective process to a five or seven district election, with each district voting for a specific candidate to represent them on the council and school board.

Measure C, which would have allowed the Glendale City Council to set their own salaries by ordinance, was resoundingly rejected by voters. Measure O was approved by voters, increasing hotel tax by 2%, from 10% to 12% overall.

The results are preliminary as the city clerk’s office works to verify that voters who cast a ballot are registered. Signatures on the vote by mail will be matched to voter’s registration cards and provisional ballots will also be checked.

Due to a new law, the city clerk’s office will wait three days to receive any ballots that were postmarked on election day, April 7. Those ballots will be verified and then added to others that will be counted.

“Nothing will be counted until April 22,” said Ardashes “Ardy” Kassakhian, Glendale City Clerk. “Official results will be submitted for city council [approval] on April 27.”

  Jason Kurosu, Mary Okeefe