All three incumbent Schuylkill County commissioners won new four-year terms, according to unofficial election returns.

Republicans Frank J. Staudenmeier, and George F. Halcovage Jr., and Democrat Gary J. Hess were elected to additional terms.Final, unofficial tallies showed Halcovage with 14,430 votes, Hess with 13,893 and Staudenmeier with 13,889.Democrat Joseph Devine, who ran with Hess, had 10,672 votes. Libertarian Nelson Reppert had 1,684 votes."I'm certainly pleased with the results. The people of Schuylkill County are genuinely pleased with the three commissioners who have served for the last four years. We all worked well together for the betterment of the county, and we'll continue to do that," said Staudenmeier, who was first elected in 2002.Halcovage, who begins his second term in office, said he was grateful for the votes."I want to thank all the voters who exercised their civic duty. I'm proud of the team. We're going to work toward making Schuylkill County a better place. I'm humbled and honored to be able to serve the county for another four years, it's an honor and a privilege.All three of us work well together. It's not a Republican thing or a Democrat thing - we're doing what's best for Schuylkill County," he said.Hess is also looking forward to his second term."I'm very thankful the people of Schuylkill County put their trust in me for another four years," he said. "I am determined to continue to work together with Frank and George and move forward to make Schuylkill County a better place."Devine said he "can honestly say it was a good clean campaign on both sides. We stuck to the issues."He has yet to decide whether he'll run again in four years.Reppert was pleased with his results."I was hoping I'd get at least 1,000 votes," he said. "I was elected to (Cressona) borough council, and I appreciate everyone who worked for me."He has no plans to run again for commissioner.Commissioners in the past year made the tough decision to sell Rest Haven, the county nursing home, to a New Jersey company, Investment 360, for $10 million.They said Rest Haven had been costing the county millions a year to make ends meet.Commissioners also spent $5 million to buy new digital radios for each of the county's volunteer fire companies.The move has brought some complaints because the transmissions are now encrypted, meaning people cannot listen in on communications among firefighters.In this term, commissioners are faced with the possibility of building a pre-release center to help alleviate overcrowding at the county jail.The short-term solution involved sending sentenced inmates to an out-of-county prison, at a cost that could reach $85 a day.