(Photo by Gwen Sour) From left, West Virginia State Delegate Bob Ferhenbacher, Dr. John Coe and Randy Modesitt talk while awaiting election results at the Wood County Courthouse Tuesday evening.

PARKERSBURG — Randy Modesitt won a seat on the Wood County School Board with 11,175 votes in Tuesday’s unofficial results.

He will serve the remaining 20 months of Debbie Hendershot’s term, left vacant after she resigned in February to run for office.

Calls to Modesitt Tuesday evening and Wednesday were not returned.

The board appointed Rick Olcott to temporarily fill the vacancy at that time, with the seat placed on the general election ballot this week. Olcott ran to finish this term and received 8,543 votes, behind Chad Conley with 9,122 and ahead of Ryan Henry with 2,050.

The board will also meet today to discuss filling another position left vacant when member Sarah Townsend resigned due to health issues this week.

Wood County Clerk Joe Gonzalez said the process for selecting a replacement would be the same as when Hendershot resigned, except that a special election would not be necessary. Whoever the board decides to appoint will serve the remainder of Townsend’s term.

Gonzalez said the board has up to 45 days to appoint a replacement and that person will fill Townsend’s remaining term.

By law, no more than two members can serve in the same magisterial district, with three of them – A, B and C – in Wood County.

Towsend is from District C. Board member Ron Tice is from District A, while board President Justin Raber and board member Judy Johnson are both from District B.

Modesitt comes from District A, which means there will now be two members from District A – Modesitt and Tice – so the board will only be able to appoint one replacement from District C.

The Wood County School Board will meet today at 6 p.m. at the board offices located at Plum and 13th Street in Parkersburg. The meeting is open to the public and will be streamed online.