The polls have closed and with a 9 percent voter turnout around the county, incumbents succeeded in retaining their seats on the Waterloo School Board and Valmeyer Village Board while the second attempt at passing a small sales tax was once again defeated in Columbia.

In the Waterloo School Board race to fill four vacant seats, incumbents Jodi Burton and Valerie Baxmeyer retained their seats while Lori Dillenberger and Gary Most were selected by voters to fill the seats of departing longtime school board members Dwight Schaefer and Sue Sweet, defeating challengers Jim Yaekel and Alan Horn.

Incumbent Valmeyer Village Board members Robert Mohr and Bruce Whipple also retained their seats while write-in candidate Kyle Duffy won the third open seat by one vote over fellow write-in candidate Tim Valentine.

In Columbia, a .25 percent sales tax to fund infrastructure improvements, from which groceries, medications and titled personal property would have been exempt, only garnered 35 percent of the vote, failing for a second time.

For more information on the election, including vote totals, pick up a copy of the April 8 Republic-Times, on newsstands Wednesday afternoon.