Nearly 2,500 Clayton County ballots cast in city/school election
By Audrey Posten, Times-Register
Nearly 2,500 ballots were cast in the Nov. 7 Iowa city/school election, representing a 20.14 percent turnout among registered voters in Clayton County.
Central and MFL MarMac school board races were among the most highly contested. Four candidates were vying for three seats on the Central board and six candidates sought three spots on MFL MarMac’s.
According to unofficial results, Andrew Clark was the top vote-getter for the Central School Board, with 341. Incumbent Michael Whittle earned a close 339, followed by Marcus Belser with 310. Kristin Dunlap received 294 votes.
For MFL MarMac, incumbents Roberta Hass and Tonya Meyer garnered the highest vote totals, with a respective 404 and 365. Newcomer Danielle Schlake will join them on the board after receiving 349 votes. Marti Post came in at 335, Chris Hoffert 334 and Jonna Schutte 271.
Few cities will see new mayors in 2024. Josh R. Pope in Elkader, Roger Bolsinger in Elkport, Glenn Radloff in Farmersburg, Nioka Schroeder in Garber, Jerry Schroeder in Luana, Stephen Weipert in Marquette, Grant Langhus in Monona, Adam Meyer in Saint Olaf and Carrie Taylor in Volga were all re-elected.
Kaitlyn Kuehl-Berns will take over the mayoral office in Clayton, and Charles Lawson will serve in Garnavillo after receiving 109 of 158 votes.
The most interesting mayoral result was in McGregor, where Russell Crawmer was running unopposed after current mayor Lyle Troester chose not to seek re-election. In a turn of events, Troester, just before Election Day, expressed willingness to be a write-in candidate. He received 93 votes, beating out Crawmer’s 54.
In Elkport, just 11 write-in votes decided three seats on the city council. Dianne Bolsinger and Susie Steve each received four votes, while Jeff Hansel picked up three.
Write-in votes also came into play in Elkader. Incumbent Randy Henning was the lone name on the ballot, and was elected to one of two seats with 185 votes. Bob Garms will take the second after receiving 67 write-in votes, edging out Brittney Reinhart’s 51 and Daryl Koehn’s 21. Daryl Bruxvoort earned 179 votes to fill a vacancy on the Elkader City Council.
In Garnavillo, Bill Rademacher and Chad Schmelzer picked up a respective 61 and 28 write-in votes for two open spots on the city council. Bonnie Tuecke received 24 write-in votes.
The Marquette City Council will see a slight shake-up with the election of newcomer Chawna Loper, who collected 40 votes. Incumbent David K. Schneider’s 36 votes earned him the second seat on the council, narrowly beating out fellow incumbent Elizabeth Gilman with 34. Nineteen votes went to Larry Breuer.
McGregor’s council race was uncontested. Incumbents Sally K. Schneider and Jason Echard were both re-elected with a respective 118 and 110 votes. Nineteen residents cast write-in votes in support of Aaron Davis.
There were similar results in Luana, as incumbents Jackie Radloff Schneider (25 votes), Lonnie Baade (25) and Todd Olson (17) were all re-elected to the city council.
Steve Watson with 28 votes and Roger Henkels with 27 will fill two seats on the Farmersburg City Council. With 12 write-in votes, Beau Fischer is poised to take the third.
Bridget Schlein and John B. Elledge were both elected to another term on the Monona Council, after earning 250 and 223 votes, respectively. Newcomer Erin Friedley secured the other spot with 229 votes.
In Clayton, there were five names on the ballot for five council seats. Nichole Michels was the top vote-getter, at 17, followed by Tom Brandel with 14, Toni J. Schultz 13, Kimberly Kuehl 10 and Dixie Connell eight.
For the Garber Council, Leroy Dugan, Edward Van Lennep and Alicia Van Lennep all received 14 votes, to fill three of five available positions. R. Lyle Schroeder picked up 12. Daniel Vorwald earned 11 write-in votes, topping the one vote for Ronnie E. Willie, who was on the ballot.
A slough of write-ins will determine five seats on the St. Olaf Council, since no names were on the ballot. Marcus Kahrs earned 24, Duane Bouska 23, David Kahrs 21, Thea Rentschler 18 and Darwin Frana 16. Frank Kelly and Jared Gage rounded out the pool with a respective 16 and 12 write-in votes.
Lastly, in Volga, nine candidates were vying for five city council seats. Parker Klingman led the way with 59, followed by Alex Fettkether with 56, Tom Whittle 48, Crystal Nicholson 42 and Elaine Follon 38. Darren Nading collected 27 votes, Thomas Klingman 25, George B. Duff 19 and Helena Davis 15.
There was just one public measure on the ballot in Clayton County, as voters in Monona were asked if they wanted to impose a hotel/motel tax on gross receipts from the rental of lodging accommodations in the city. Voters soundly supported the measure, which received 183 “yes” votes compared to 93 “no.”
All city/school election results are unofficial until the canvass is completed. Find full results and other election information at elections.claytoncountyia.gov/.
