Sort of taken aback at some of yesterday’s election results. The West Lampeter referendum, can’t say I was too surprised - the margin of victory was less than 400 votes out of more than 4,200 cast. You could really characterize it as small town Lancaster County versus a growing Lancaster County - with the latter winning.

What really did surprise me was the results in Manheim Township. Just one of the endorsed candidates, Rick Casselbury, won - with two of the “insurgents,” former township manager Jim Martin and incumbent Mike Flanagan, also winning; the Intell has Flanagan beating endorsed Gerald Robinson by one vote.

If the Manheim Township race was a referendum on growth, as so many people seemed to think - this really does come off as an endorsement of future township growth. Because the “coalition” candidates (Martin and Flanagan and also Jim Bohan - who got the lowest vote total) - were seen and fairly described as the “pro-growth” candidates.

We’re going to hear now that this wasn’t a mandate - I’m not so sure about that. That’s one thing I’ve always wondered about; I personally know a lot of Manheim Township residents who grumble about the growth, and the traffic it brings. But is there really a majority of township residents who so value the revenue that it brings that they want it to continue? Seems like it, at least based on these results.