The deadline for local city council and school board candidates to file has passed for the November 5th election. Candidates can withdraw their nominations at the Marion County Auditor’s Office by Tuesday, September 24th.
Six candidates have officially filed their paperwork in Knoxville. The candidates are John Gotta, Jerrold Jordan, Mike Conner Jr., Justin Plum, Jyl DeJong and Scott Ziller. Mayor Brian Hatch also filed his official paperwork for reelection as Knoxville’s Mayor and will be running unopposed. Current council members James Lane and Rick Kingery will not be running for reelection to the Knoxville City Council. KNIA/KRLS will be holding a city council candidate forum with date and location to be announced. Stay tuned to KNIA/KRLS for more information.
The Knoxville School Board will have five candidates running for three seats in this November’s school board election. Incumbent Larissa Van Donselaar will seek reelection to the board and will be challenged by Billy Burkhart, Cheri Gerdes, Ann Fields and Dave Smith. Current board president Andrew Schmidt and board member Vickie Reed are not seeking reelection.
One of the largest and most competitive fields in recent memory highlights the races of the Pella City Council this November. Current Mayor Jim Mueller will retire at the end of his term, and current Ward 3 Councilmember Bruce Scheibout and Don DeWaard will run for the open seat. At-Large Incumbent Tony Bokhoven is running for a third term on council against challengers Chris Meyers and Liz Sporrer. Ward 2 Councilmember Harold Van Stryland will have three other opponents on the ballot: Calvin Bandstra, Robin Pfalzgraf, and Nicolle Picray. Larry Peterson will not run again for his seat in Ward 4, and David Hopkins and William Harkins have filed candidacy papers to contest for that spot. The PACE Alliance and 92.1 KRLS are partnering together for a City Council Business Candidate Forum on Thursday, October 10th at 6:30 p.m. at a location to be determined, and it will be broadcast live on KRLS. Additionally, candidates will be featured with profiles on Let’s Talk Pella throughout the entire month of October leading up to the November 5th election.
There will be no contested races in the 2019 Pella School Board elections. All three incumbent candidates — Gary Coppock, Annette Smith, and Tim Tripp, will run for their seats unopposed. Coppock has been serving since 2013, while Tripp has been on the board for two, four-year terms since 2011. Smith was appointed to replace the late Lisa Jansen this summer, who resigned shortly before passing away after a lengthy illness. Tune into Let’s Talk Pella in October to hear profiles of each of the candidates running for the Pella School Board.
The Indianola City Council will have three spots up for election this November, with the seats currently held by John Parker in Ward 1, Joe Gezel in Ward 3, and Shirley Clark in an At-Large position to be decided on. Five names, including Parker and Clark running for re-election, have been submitted to Indianola City Hall to run for the open positions:
Steve Armstrong – Ward 3
Gwen Schroder – Ward 3
John Parker – Ward 1
Stephanie Erickson – Ward 1
Shirley Clark – At-Large
Heather Hulen – At-Large
The Indianola School Board will have four open positions for the upcoming November election, as seats currently held by Board President Dacni Gabel, Vice President Jay Wilkinson, Rene Staudacher, and Kariann Voigts will be sent to the ballots. Of the four incumbents, only Voigts will be running for re-election, joined by sex other applicants who have submitted their names to the district. Those running for Indianola School Board include:
Kim Gibson
Rob Keller
Donna Kreamer
Ben Metzger
Kevin Schlomer
Kariann Voigts
Sue Wilson
The Indianola School Board has all at-large seats.
Melcher-Dallas has contested races for both mayor and city council.
Mayor Candidates:
Barbara Verwers-VanWyk
Louis R. Karpan
Collin R. Hyatt
City Council – At Large – Vote for 3
Terry A. Fisher
David Ernst
Seth Williams
Bradley Branson
Mark Moon