Issue 10 on Tuesday’s ballot gave voters the option to dissolve the village of Brady Lake, turning it into its own township or becoming part of Franklin Township, or keeping it Brady Lake village.

Out of 198 votes, 68.18 percent voted against disincorporation. Just 31.82 percent voted for disincorporation.

Brady Lake, home to about 500 people, will remain a village, but had Issue 10 passed, it would have lost its police, fire and maintenance departments and buildings, as well as the lake, playground and baseball fields.

Mayor Hal Lehman said he has lived in Brady Lake his entire life and has 44 years of service between maintenance, fire, council and his mayor position, and regardless of what happened, he wasn’t going anywhere.

“My heart is there; I feel good, and I want to thank the residents,” he said. “It means a lot. We will just (now) have to learn to make some changes and work together. I am trying to do better at some things, and I think we are heading in the right direction.”

Lehman said his first issue to focus on following the election is safety and service for the community.

“I volunteered a lot of time there because I love to do it, and I like working where I live,” he said. “We just need some things for our safety forces, and I plan to try to go higher up to get some things in service for the village, and I won’t stop.”

Lehman said he believes voters decided to keep the village as it is because of the services they see, and they don’t want to lose the lake.

Dan Boyle began the petition for Issue 10 and said it must be passed, and they want to see it go back to being a part of Franklin Township to cut taxes and improve services.

“It’s not fair to everybody to be treated like this,” Boyle said, “especially paying the highest income taxes in the county.”

However, Lehman said the high taxes are worth it.

“We are small. It’s a friendly place to live, and we do more services that are always ongoing,” he said. “I think the people like that. Sure we pay the highest taxes, but how can you put a price on stuff?”

Contact Caitlyn Callahan at [email protected].