City elections slated for November 5 feature wide variety of races for mayor, city council

Elections for city officials will take place throughout Allamakee County Tuesday, November 5. Polls will be open from 12 noon to 8 p.m. that day for community residents to vote at their respective polling sites. Those sites, along with sample ballots and other election information, can be found on Page 5B of last week's (October 23) issue of The Standard.
Although many of the races on this year's ballots appear to be uncontested due to only a single candidate or perhaps even not enough candidates on the ballot to fill the vacant seats, The Standard reminds area citizens that their choice for representation can not be made clear if they choose not to exercise their right to vote.
The Standard has asked the candidates who took the time and made the effort to formally declare their candidacy in officially contested races for Mayor and City Council - those happening only in Lansing and Harpers Ferry for this particular election - to respond to a questionnaire in order to help voters make an informed choice at the polls Tuesday. Those questions to the candidates and their responses appear in this week's Standard.

WAUKON RACES
Residents of the City of Waukon will make their way to the polls to elect three members to the Waukon City Council, along with the City's Mayor. The ballots for each of those four positions appear to make those races uncontested, as just one incumbent candidate in each seat is listed on the ballot. However, late announcement of a write-in campaign for candidates in each position has been made in an effort to make for newly-contested races.
In the mayoral race, incumbent Loren Beneke is seeking re-election to his third two-year term. Though looking unopposed on this election's ballot, Beneke is reportedly facing a late write-in campaign challenge from former Waukon Mayor Keith Schroeder, who served a single two-year term in that capacity before losing out to Beneke in the 2009 city election process.
The three council seats up for election also appear to be uncontested on the ballot, but, instead, face a similar write-in challenge. First Ward incumbent representative Steve Wiedner faces no declared challenger in his quest for a third full four-year term after being appointed to his position prior to the 2005 election. Ward resident Jason Dahlstrom is reportedly undertaking a write-in campaign to challenge Wiedner for that First Ward seat.
Likewise, At-Large Councilman Joe Cunningham will also be seeking re-election to his third full four-year term after his initial mid-term election to that seat in 2004. Though unopposed on the ballot, Cunningham also faces an apparent late write-in challenge from Waukon resident Darrold Brink.
The other City Council race involves Waukon's Third Ward incumbent councilman John Ellingson seeking re-election to his second four-year term in that position. Just like his other incumbent council mates, he will reportedly also face a late write-in campaign challenge from ward resident Don Steffens.
Also on the City Election ballot for Waukon will be two seats on the Veterans Memorial Hospital Board of Trustees. Both of those seats are also uncontested, as incumbent candidates Revelyn Lonning and Patty Fosaaen are each seeking re-election to their respective positions as the lone declared candidates.
 
LANSING RACES
Lansing residents will head to the polls to vote for a new mayor and five city council members. Although the mayor's race has just one declared candidate, the five city council seats are being sought by a total of six candidates.
Current Lansing Mayor Mike Verdon will not be seeking re-election to the position after winning a special election earlier this spring. However, former Lansing Mayor Mike Brennan has declared his candidacy to regain the mayor's seat after not seeking re-election in 2009 following his appointment to the mayor position from his then council seat in 2006.
Four of the five current Lansing City Council members are seeking re-election to their respective seats, including Rebecca Conway, Ross Kolsrud, Deb Volker and Patrick Wagner. That fifth current member, Jeff Bechtel, is not seeking re-election, but a pair of additional candidates, David Darling and Dick Roeder, have also joined the four incumbents above in vying for the Council's five seats up for re-election.

HARPERS FERRY RACES
In Harpers Ferry, Mayor Jerry C. Valley is seeking re-election once again, but this time faces a challenge from resident Karyla McCune. The two seats on the Harpers Ferry City Council up for re-election this year have a total of four candidates vying for those seats. Incumbent candidates Thomas Boots and Donald Gibson are both seeking re-election to those positions, with challenges for those positions coming from Glenn McCune and Nancy J. Walleser.

NEW ALBIN COUNCIL CLARIFICATION
Although the ballot for the New Albin City Council race looks to be contested, as three candidates are listed on the ballot which states "Vote for no more than two," some initial confusion in whether incumbent candidate Joel Monroe's seat was up for re-election due to him previously being appointed or elected to his seat resulted in him filing papers for re-election when, in reality, he did not have to because he was, indeed, elected to his current council seat.
The end result is that, even though Monroe's seat is not officially up for re-election, the Iowa Secretary of State ruled that his name had to be included on the ballot since he did file election papers. Since there are two council seats officially up for re-election - those being held by incumbent candidates Lori Darling and Debra Stantic also listed on this year's ballot, if Monroe is one of the top two vote-getters out of those three candidates, then, according to published minutes of the New Albin City Council, "he can then choose to remain in his seat or take the seat he won."
Should Monroe be one of those top two vote-getters and choose to remain in his current seat, then the Council would have to appoint someone to fill the other seat that is up for re-election. Should he choose to claim the seat he was re-elected to, then the Council would have to appoint someone to fill the seat Monroe vacated. Finally, should Monroe not be one of the top two vote-getters, he would simply remain in his current seat.
"Ultimately, New Albin will probably end up with the same three council members, but might have to 'appoint,' and then whoever is appointed has to run at the next possible election," explained Allamakee County Auditor Denise Beyer in summing up the situation.
In addition to the council seats being sought again by incumbents Lori Darling and Debra Stantic, New Albin Mayor Barry Stahl and New Albin City Treasurer Diane Erbe are also seeking re-election but have no other candidates declared as vying for those positions.

WATERVILLE RACES
In Waterville, Mayor David Monserud is seeking re-election as the lone declared candidate on this year's ballot. The five Waterville City Council seats up for re-election, however, have just four declared candidates on the ballot in Robbie Burrett, Kurt Rathbun, Bob Ryan and Mark VanderKolk.