Hauber wins special election
Elkader city council candidate Tony Hauber was out campaigning in Keystone Park in the days leading up to the April 20 special election. Hauber defeated opponent Caleb Shea, 148-77.
By Willis Patenaude, Times-Register
Tony Hauber defeated Caleb Shea in an April 20 special election, retaining the Elkader city council seat he was appointed to in February.
The special election, supported by both candidates as well as Elkader Mayor Josh Pope, was an effort to fill the seat through a democratic process that took into account the voices of Elkader citizens.
In all, 225 voters went to the polls, giving Hauber 148 votes, while Shea finished with 77.
The 225 voters represented 25.06 percent of the total number of registered voters in Elkader.
After the results were tallied, Hauber posted a heartfelt message on Facebook in which he thanked the many individuals responsible for putting on the special election, the voters who supported him and those who participated in the election.
Addressing his opponent, Shea, Hauber stated, “Caleb is a tremendous volunteer for this town and a worthy candidate. I hope to see him running again in November because I would love to work with him in the future.”
Commenting on his victory, Hauber added, “I was absolutely blown away by the level of support and the turnout. Having this many people engaged in this decision really fills me with tremendous hope for the future. So, I want to thank every single person that came out to vote for participating in this process. I also want to implore people to maintain that level of engagement. The path to progress cannot be walked by one man alone. It must be walked by everyone of us, and the voters of this town have showed me that they are up for the journey.”
Although the current situation has been decided, Hauber’s term actually ends this year, meaning he faces yet another election in November.
In fact, his seat is one of three that will be up for grabs, as Bob Hendrickson’s and Daryl Koehn’s terms also come to an end. While it is unknown whether Hendrickson or Koehn will run again, Hauber intends to.
“I’m thrilled to be an elected official and to have the official backing of the people. It has motivated me to start formalizing a lot of the initiatives that I had planned to unveil closer to November, in what I originally thought would be my first public bid, but now, with the public support, I feel I can get to work in earnest. I look forward to releasing more information on these initiatives when they are more prepared,” he said.
One of those initiatives is bringing about a technological revolution in Elkader.
Hauber described it as such: “We possess a unique opportunity with the cultural shift to remote work…In a beautifully located river valley town, with an abundance of fun outdoor activity and a supportive community, the one thing that has always made it hard for people to thrive here is limited career opportunity. That hurdle has never been lower to overcome. By investing in community workspaces and providing our citizens with the right tools, we could have a strong home-grown professional network of diverse careers right on Main Street.”
