Filings open for St. Peter City Council, School Board races

Mark Fischenich, The Free Press, Mankato, Minn.
·2 min read

Aug. 1—ST. PETER — While most of south-central Minnesota gets a year off from voting in 2023, campaigning is about to kick off in St. Peter where both the city and St. Peter Public Schools hold elections in odd-numbered years.

The two-week filing began Tuesday for the St. Peter City Council and St. Peter Public Schools, a district that also includes Kasota.

Both of the seven-member bodies have four seats up for grabs on Nov. 7.

In St. Peter, the two-year mayoral term — won by Shanon Nowell in 2021 — will be on the ballot, along with two City Council seats in Ward II and one council seat in Ward I. All of the council seats carry four-year terms.

In Ward II, which covers the southern half of St. Peter, the expiring terms are held by Council members Emily Bruflat and Bradley DeVos. In the northern Ward I, the sole seat on this year's ballot is now held by Council member Keri Johnson.

Four candidates jumped into the races on the first day of filing — incumbents Nowell, who lives on Willow Drive; DeVos, who lives on Riverview Road; and Johnson, who lives on Leonard Street; and newcomer Joshua Weisenfeld, who lives on College Avenue.

The two wards are generally divided along Broadway Avenue, although the southerly Ward II spills over to the north of Broadway on the hilltop to include neighborhoods west of Sunrise Drive and south of Traverse Road.

The four seats on the School Board each carry four-year terms, with the expiring seats held by Bill Kautt, Ben Leonard, Tim Lokensgard and Tracy Stuewe. Just two board candidates — Kautt, who lives on Sioux Lane, and Michael Spear, who lives on Washington Avenue — filed on opening day.

People interested in running for the seats must be residents of the ward or the district they're seeking to represent for at least 30 days before Nov. 7, must be at least age 21 by the time they would assume office in January and must be eligible to vote. In the case of the School Board, convicted sex offenders are prohibited from serving.

Most cities and school districts hold elections in even-numbered years in Minnesota, although some of the state's larger cities are an exception. The 21 cities with municipal elections this year include Minneapolis, St. Paul, Duluth and Bloomington. No other cities in south-central Minnesota other than St. Peter have elections this year, but Mountain Lake joins St. Peter among the 30 school districts statewide that will be electing board members Nov. 7.

Mankato voters might be going to the polls that day, too, although they would be voting on whether to authorize school building upgrades rather than picking between candidates. The Mankato Area School Board is expected to decide this month whether to put a construction referendum of as much as $110 million on the ballot this fall.