Updated: St. Peter council, School Board seats draw 16 candidates

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

Aug. 16—ST. PETER — Voters across St. Peter will have a decision to make when voting for mayor on Nov. 7, when picking City Council members in Ward 2 and when choosing a quartet of School Board members.

As the candidate filing period closed Tuesday afternoon, only Ward 1 City Council member Keri Johnson found herself without opposition.

Mayor Shanon Nowell, the first female in 100 years to be elected to St. Peter's top municipal post, filed to seek a second two-year term. Nowell picked up 1,023 votes in 2021 to easily outdistance then-Mayor Chuck Zieman and then-fellow-Council member Ed Johnson, who picked up 630 and 649 votes, respectively.

All three are running again this year, but only Nowell and Johnson — a longtime manager of the Red Men Club and volunteer with the St. Peter Fire Department — filed for mayor.

Ziemen is one of four candidates seeking a pair of four-year council terms representing Ward 2, which covers the southern half of St. Peter. Also seeking to win one of the Ward 2 seats are incumbent Council member Brad DeVos, Charlie Rustman, who lives on South Fourth Street, and Joshua Weisenfeld, a resident of College Avenue. The second expiring term in Ward 2 is currently held by Emily Bruflat, who didn't file for another term.

Because St. Peter doesn't hold primary elections in council races, all candidates who file are on the general election ballot. The top two vote-getters in Ward 2 will win the two seats.

On the city's north side, Keri Johnson was the only candidate to file for the single seat up for election this year in Ward 1 during the two-week filing period that closed at 5 p.m., according to the Minnesota Secretary of State's office.

Along with being one of the few outstate Minnesota cities to hold odd-year municipal elections, St. Peter also elects its School Board members in off-years.

With the School Board, voters will have the opportunity to elect a new majority if they so choose. Seven of the nine candidates seeking the four seats on the ballot are not currently on the seven-member board. Bill Kautt and Tracy Stuewe are the only incumbents seeking a new four-year term. The other incumbents with expiring terms — Tim Lokensgard and Ben Leonard — did not file for reelection.

Kautt is a retiree who spent 35 years teaching social studies in St. Peter schools. Stuewe worked as a secretary for the district for more than a year in the last decade and currently is an administrative assistant at River of Life Lutheran Church in St. Peter.

The other candidates are Marty Duncan, Amanda Hird, Rita Rassbach, Ken Rossow, Michael Spear, Bill Weber and Krystal Loula.

Duncan spent a decade on the School Board ending in 2013. A superintendent who administered numerous southern Minnesota school districts ranging from Amboy-Good Thunder to Alden-Conger prior to his retirement to St. Peter, Duncan has run unsuccessfully for the board at least twice in the past eight years.

Rassbach, a parent volunteer in the schools and in the St. Peter community, ran an unsuccessful board campaign in 2021. Loula, a parent and farmer, also made an unsuccessful run two years ago.

Rossow has a long history as a banker and member of several community organizations ranging from the Chamber of Commerce to the county historical society. Hird is a resident of North Washington Avenue, Spear lives on South Washington and Weber is a resident of Valley View Drive.

The top four vote-getters Nov. 7 will win a seat on the School Board. Along with St. Peter, the school district also includes Kasota.

This story was updated to include the final-day filings by Stuewe and Loula, which weren't initially listed on the Secretary of State's site when filings closed at 5 p.m. Tuesday.