Race is on for Cutler village president
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">The village president of Cutler is being challenged in his re-election bid by a village trustee.<br /> Village President Rick Hepp, who is running for his second full term, is being challenged by Trustee Joseph Loucks. Hepp was first appointed village president in November 2011 when then-president James Easton Sr. stepped down in the middle of his term. Hepp then was elected to a full term in 2013.<br /> Loucks, meanwhile, was on the village board until November 2011, when he, too, stepped down. He returned to politics in 2015 when he ran and was elected to a two-year seat on the village board.<br /> Cutler Village Clerk Pat Boyce explained that since Loucks’ trustee seat is also up on April 4, should he lose his bid for president he will be off the council entirely.<br /> Three trustee seats are open for election in Cutler and only two candidates have filed: incumbent trustees D. Shane Helvey and Brenda Conway. Both will be re-elected without a contest.<br /> Boyce said that after the election, the village board will appoint a new trustee to the seat no one is running for.<br /> An earlier list of candidates in Perry County published in the Evening Call left off both Hepp and Helvey. Cutler is a community of 441 residents on the west side of Perry County, near the Randolph County line. </span></span>