West Burlington councilwoman Melanie Young will finish out out AL Waterman's term, then begin her own

Laigha Anderson, The Hawk Eye
·2 min read

Melanie Young will retain her seat on the West Burlington City Council through 2026.

The 2021 council race was technically uncontested, but there was a race to see who would fill the seat which was left open by councilman Al Waterman when he resigned in July with the highest voted candidate filling out his term before starting their own.

"I am looking forward to continuing with the responsibilities of being a council members of West Burlington,” Young said.

Young was appointed to the council earlier this year after Rick Raleigh, who stepped up to fill the role, said he didn't want to keep the seat if someone who intended to stay on the ballot in 2021 was willing to fill it.

Melanie Young
Melanie Young

During her campaign, Young focused on discussing the city's issues and how the city should work to deal with them. She had also talked about the importance of finding a new city administrator. The West Burlington City Council was expect to vote Wednesday on whether to hire interim city administrator Greg Mandsager as its permanent city administrator.

John Johnson, who also was running for a four-year term, received eight fewer votes than Young, with a number of undervotes, which happen when voters don't vote for the number of seats in an election or don't vote in that specific race at all.

West Burlington nurse Kathy Newberry won her unopposed election, with 189 voters voting for her, six voters voting for write-ins and about 28 voters deciding not to vote for a council member at all.

Newberry was running to fulfill a vacancy left by Kathy Christie, who resigned her post when she bought land outside of town. Newberry will be up for re-election in 2023 as Christie had two years left of her term.

With the election of Young and Newberry, barring resignations, the council will remain majority female through at least 2023.

While there may have been two seats for resigned council members, two people on the council decided to retire from their positions, bringing the number of seats without incumbents seeking election to four. Councilman Royce Heitmeyer decided to step away after five years and Hans Trousil decided to bring to an end his nearly 30-year run as West Burlington's mayor .

West Burlington's new mayor will be Ron Teater, who has taught at both the Burlington School District and Burlington Notre Dame Catholic Schools. Teater received 182 votes, with 14 people writing in a candidate.

Newberry is expected to be sworn in after the Des Moines County Board of Supervisors certifies the election next week. The West Burlington City Council will meet again later this month.

Johnson and Teater will be sworn in at the beginning of the year.

This article originally appeared on The Hawk Eye: West Burlington Iowa election results 2021: Who's joining City Council