Voters in southern Delaware County yesterday replaced Peggy Guzzo and kept Curt Sybert on the tension-plagued Liberty Township Board of Trustees.

Sybert and Mary Carducci were the top vote-getters among six candidates vying for two seats held by Sybert, 48, a Powell lawyer, and Guzzo, 45, a homemaker. Sybert and Guzzo had each sought second four-year terms on the three-member board.

Carducci, a 47-year-old Columbus lawyer, received the most votes with 23 percent, while Sybert won 21 percent of the vote, according to final, unofficial returns. They will join Columbus lawyer Bob Mann on the board. Mann has another two years to go in his first term.

"I will not let the voters down," Carducci said last night. During her campaign, she promised to "serve with integrity, common sense and civility, never forgetting that my constituents come first. Civility on the board needs to be restored."

Other candidates in the trustee race included Powell City Councilman Don Grubbs, Delaware businessman Don Rankey Jr. and former Liberty Township Trustee John Schuette.

Several challengers, including Carducci, criticized infighting among the trustees and said that the township needs to control spending, especially on legal fees.

In the neighboring race for the Powell City Council, Sara Marie Brenner, Thomas Counts, Jim Hrivnak and Brian Lorenz were elected to four open seats.

dwilson@dispatch.com