Election roundup: New faces will join Centerville governments

Nov. 8—CENTERVILLE — Two new faces will join the Centerville City Council, while the local school board gets a new — but familiar face — as well.

A three-way race for an at-large seat on the Centerville Council was won by the incumbent, Darrin Hamilton. Two opponents, Jamie Sales and Scott Buban, each received 230 votes, which trailed Hamilton's tally by 13 in the unofficial results reported by the Appanoose County Auditor's Office Tuesday night. There were six write-ins reported, which weren't expected to impact the final result.

For the council's first ward, Brad Brauman defeated Matt Janseen 128 votes to 93 and will join the council in January. Ahna Kruzic ran unopposed with 207 votes to win election to the council's third ward seat.

Running unopposed for re-election as mayor, Mike O'Connor tallied 636 votes against 29 write-ins.

The top vote-getter for one of the four seats open for the Centerville School Board was Carol Heffron. The retired educator tallied 797 votes. The rest of the four which appear to have won election were incumbents Mike Moore (792 votes), Derek Carter (631) and Kevin Wiskus (492). There were 16 write-in votes, which were not expected to meaningfully impact results. Three others ran for the seat, including Natalie Felkner (who received 430 votes), Ashley Byrd (322) and former Centerville councilman Jay Dillard (224).

Thomas Johnson ran unopposed for a school board seat to fill a vacancy and received 881 votes.

In other contested Appanoose County races, D.J. McDanel beat Shannon Self for the Moravia School District's fifth district seat. The third district seat seemed too close to confidently call Tuesday night, with Joann McDanel receiving 139 votes and Andrew DeJong showing 134 votes in unofficial results. No write-ins were reported in the race.

Moulton-Udell had three seats open on their school board. The top vote-getters were Mark Mendick II with 166 votes, Tiffany Muszynski with 154 and Kirk Swarts with 146.

A little more than 19% of registered voters in Appanoose County cast ballots in the election.

Monroe County

ALBIA — Richard Clark won re-election as Albia Mayor, but faced a contested battle that saw opponent Mike Fisher receive 84 votes and had 115 voters write in another name.

The top three of the five vying for three Albia council seats were Christopher Yarkosky (456), Merle Regenold (340) and Trudy McDowell (294).

A four-year at-large seat on the Albia School Board was hotly contested with three candidates receiving more than 500 votes. The apparent winner in unofficial results was Audrie Beary, who received 773 votes. Jeni Fisher was second with 764 and Scott Hafer was third with 546. There were 15 write-ins which could impact results if voters wrote in the names of either Fisher or Beary.

Albia voters again defeated a Physical Plant and Equipment Levy measure. In the first go-around in September, voters defeated the measure with 55.8% of voters casting no votes. The result on Tuesday was closer, but the issue failed to reach majority support by three votes.

The district had said the measure, had voters approved it, would generate approximately $450,000 annually to assist with infrastructure projects. It would have applied a $1.34 per $1,000 in valuation levy to generate those funds. The district had argued its taxes were low compared to other communities and their tax rate had generally been on a downward trend over the last 15 years.

Other contested races

Three seats on the Cardinal School Board were contested between five candidates. The top-three vote totals were Debb Kent (336 votes), Ryan Johnson (283) and Trevor Brown (273).

Two candidates sought election as Eldon's mayor. However, there were more write-in votes than either candidate received, meaning the race could not yet be called by Wednesday afternoon. Three council seats were sought by five candidates. The top vote-getters were Stacey Doree (150), Tom Bedford (147) and David Showman (127).

There was a seven-way race for four seats on the Fairfield School Board. The top-four vote totals were Christie Kessel (1,623), David Eastburn (1,583), Mark Thornton (1,582) and Nate Weaton (1,325). Deborah Williamson received 1,513 for another seat on the board to fill a vacancy, but had 827 write-in votes against her.

Pekin had two candidates vie for an at-large seat on their school board, with Sherry Bemis the apparent winner with 398 votes. The board's fourth district seat was a two-race, with Josh Arendt winning with 333 votes. Pekin School's revenue purpose statement measure passed with more than 86% support.

The Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont School District had three contested board elections and public measure on the ballot. Ed Glenn, Tyrone Lobberecht and Tom Judy won the board seats. The district's revenue purpose statement passed with 81% support.

Eddyville's city elections were also competitive. Doug Greenlee defeated Phyllis Sutton 155 votes to 45 for the office of Mayor. There were two council seats on the ballot, but only one name. James Sutton received 110 votes, but there were 155 total write-ins, meaning they will need to be sorted out before winners can be declared.

In Batavia, four sought one of three available seats on the town's council. The top vote recipients were Jody Trenary (81), Aric Jensen (73) and Cynthia Franklin (69).

Robert Sampson beat Nick Tucker for Drakesville Mayor, 29 votes to 19.

A three-way race for Hedrick's mayor saw Robert Crawford end the night with a 29-vote lead. Three spots were open on the town's council, with Mike Mefford the top vote-getter followed by Dustin Griffiths and Jeremy Greiner.

The City of Maharishi Vedic City saw Rogers Badgett elected to be mayor, and Kathy Petersen, Maureen Wynee, Timothy Fitz-Randolph, Robert Chris JOhnson and Leslee Goldstein win the five open council seats.

And the third district seat on the Van Buren County School Board saw two candidates, with Alisha Duehn receiving 392 votes to her opponent's 290 votes.

Full election results can be found as they are reported by counties through the Iowa Secretary of State website at https://electionresults.iowa.gov/IA/118686/web.317647/#/summary.

Kyle Ocker is the editor of the Ottumwa Courier and the Oskaloosa Herald. He can be reached at kocker@ottumwacourier.com. Follow him on Twitter @Kyle_Ocker.