One of the closest elections in the city of Pella’s history has been decided, and the final vote tally will mean all new faces will serve in the seats that were up for election. Liz Terborg Sporrer will be the next Pella At Large City Councilmember after narrowly defeating incumbent Tony Bokhoven in the November 5th city elections unofficially by eight votes. Bokhoven conceded the seat after an updated vote count from the Marion County Auditor’s Office showed Sporrer had what was unofficially an insurmountable vote lead. Sporrer tells KRLS News she’s thankful for the high turnout of voters who were engaged in this year’s cycle.
“If there’s one thing we learned as a community, it’s that every single voice matters, and whatever that voice is, it does make a difference,” she says. “So thank you for coming [to vote] and I hope to hear from all of your voices throughout the next four years as I will be delighted to serve on the city council.”
She looks forward to serving and starting her term in January, with a number of large projects for council to decide as the new year begins.
“I’ve heard so many great stories and perspectives and ideas and thoughts and dreams, and I just hope to continue to hear those loud and clear,” she says. “If there’s one thing I can do, it’s encourage anyone to, please, reach out and say what matters to you.”
“Also, there’s just a lot of learning and education–our city council, for years, has been doing a lot of great things in this community, so it’s just understanding where they’re at now, and what projects are coming. We have a big list ahead of us that’s going to hit in January, and so, [this time is] really to make sure we–me and all the new council members, are really prepared to hit the ground running.”
Sporrer will join three other new faces when the new council is sworn in: Don DeWaard was elected to replace the retiring Jim Mueller as Mayor, Dave Hopkins was voted in to replace Larry Peterson, who is retiring from his Ward Four seat, and Calvin Bandstra defeated incumbent Harold Van Stryland in the Ward Two race featuring four total candidates, including Robin Pfalzgraf and Nicolle Picray. Chris Meyers also ran in the At-Large Race against Bokhoven and Sporrer. Bruce Schiebout will continue to serve in the Ward Three seat for the rest of his term after losing to DeWaard in the mayoral election.