With three candidates in a dead heat for second place, unofficial results indicate that there will be at least one new face on Meadville City Council in 2010. Two of council’s four seats are up for re-election.

With all precincts reporting, Republican Nancy Mangilo-Bittner became a member-elect with 1,013 votes. With Republican Tom Collard and Democrat John Battaglia each receiving an 773 votes and incumbent Democrat LeRoy Stearns receiving 771 votes in his bid for a fourth four-year term, the race for the second seat will be decided during the official vote tabulation, which begins Friday.

Votes tabulated on election night do not include absentee or provisional ballots or write-in votes. There were three write-in votes, but for whom will not be revealed until the official vote count. Also unknown until then is the number of absentee and provisional ballots.

If Mangilo-Bittner and Collard win, Republicans would claim their first majority on City Council in at least a decade, joining sole Republican Jason Amory. While Republicans have long held a registration edge in Crawford County — about 3,000 this year — the City of Meadville has typically been a Democratic bastion.

In Mangilo-Bittner pointed to several issues that likely energized a pro-Republican, anti-incumbent vote. Over the past year, the City Council made an unpopular move to increase parking fees and fines and has talked for months about possibily enacting a residential rental inspection program. The proposal has drawn a dedicated crowd to council meetings to speak in opposition.

Mangilo-Bittner, who celebrated an unspecified birthday Tuesday, said she appreciated the voters’ confidence in her. “I would like to thank everyone for coming out on a cold day and voting,” she said after the results were in. “I will do my utmost to help move the city forward. I think the tax base in the city of Meadville needs fixed. I think the parking fees need changed — again. The rental issue isn’t my main concern — there are things that need to be handled with the rental business, but my main concern is the tax base in the city of Meadville. People are moving to the township to get away from city taxes. It’s outrageous. And I’m not sure how you’re going to attract people downtown with $10 parking fines.”

“There were a lot of good candidates,” Battaglia said. “It was an interesting campaign — I guess we’ll see how it turns out.”

“I think all the candidates were good candidates,” said Collard. “Regardless of who comes out with the second slot, I think the city will have a good council team.”

“Congratulations to Nancy for having the highest numbers,” said Stearns. “We really won’t know anything until they start adding up the other votes.”

Council member Christopher Soff, who is currently a Democrat, will move to council’s center seat, replacing Mayor Richard Friedberg, who opted to not seek re-election after completing his third four-year term.

Soff had left the party when some fellow Democrats objected to his support for then county sheriff candidate Republican Nick Hoke.

Mary Spicer can be reached at 724-6370 or by e-mail at mspicer@meadvilletribune.com.