Bruns, Sturgeon, Win City Council Seats – DeJong and Lang Go To School Board
(Le Mars) — The election results have been tabulated and it appears the big winners in Tuesday’s election were Brian Bruns, and Mark Sturgeon for the city council race, and for the Le Mars Community Board of Education, Lorraine DeJong will join the school board, and Makenzie Lang will return to the school board. With 100 percent of the precincts reporting, in Ward 1 for city council new comer Brian Bruns was able to edge out a victory over Ken Nelson who had been on the city council for 23 and a half years. The vote tally shows Bruns with 228 votes to Nelson’s 216. As for Ward 3, Mark Sturgeon dominated the race against Dan Dembinski by receiving 61 percent of the votes to Dembinski’s 38 percent. With 178 votes that were cast, Sturgeon picked up 109 votes with Dembinski’s 68 votes. As for the Le Mars Community Board of Education races, Lorraine DeJong was able to capture the District 1 race against the three other candidates. DeJong received 42 percent, or 552 of the nearly 1300 votes cast to win the four-way race. Ashley Knapp garnered 397 votes, Gina Vacura collected 292 votes, and Mary Milder had 53 votes. In the school board race between Wanda Wichers and Makenzie Lang for the District 4 position, Lang was able to get 57 percent, or 712 votes against Wichers nearly 43 percent or 536 votes. Aaron Tolzin and Jill Feurerhelm ran unopposed for District 2 and District 5 respectfully for the Le Mars Community Board of Education, and will be seated as school board directors during the November 11th scheduled school board meeting.
In other election results, Rob Bixenman was running unopposed for the position of mayor. Bixenman gathered 897 votes. There were 79 write-in votes. The At-large city council position had Clark Goodchild as the only candidate. Goodchild, of course retains his seat on the city council, but moving from representing Ward 1 to the At-large position. Goodchild had 935 votes. Voters re-elected the two Floyd Valley Healthcare trustees. Craig Bauerly and Kelli Flack had unopposed races and will retain their seats as a hospital trustee.
DeJong and Sturgeon Comment On Political Victories
(Le Mars) — Lorranine DeJong won’t have much time to enjoy her victory as she will need to report to her new position on the school board next Thursday, November 11th. The following week she will be attending the State School Board Convention held in Des Moines. DeJong says she was hopeful about the election, but perhaps not overly confident about the four-way race for school board director. She says working in the school district as a teacher for many years helped with her campaign.
As mentioned, DeJong will have a short learning curve stepping into the role of a school board director. The former school teacher has been working as a substitute teacher, and was requested to fill-in as a substitute teacher during the time of the state school board convention.
DeJong says she is looking forward to serving on the Le Mars Community Board of Education.
Mark Sturgeon will now add city council member to his list of duties and responsibilities. The Plymouth County District Court employee believes the difference in his race against Dan Dembinski was Sturgeon attempted to knock on each door of the Ward 3.
Sturgeon says he will take the time between now and January 1st to get caught up on the city’s issues.
Plymouth County Contested Election Results
(Le Mars) — In other contested races in Plymouth County, Remsen residents had to choose three at-large candidates among four contestants. The top three candidates to receive the most votes included: Jeff Cluck with 135 votes, Josh Hill with 133 votes, and Ann Cole-Nelson gathered 122 votes. Michael Slota was defeated with 103 votes. Remsen residents also approved Measure R-F by a vote margin of 156 yes votes to 29 no votes. Hinton school board election had four candidates seeking two positions for the at-large director. The top two vote getters included: Haylee Junck with 281 votes and Ben Vondrak with 278 votes. Kingsley-Pierson’s top two candidates among the four contestants for the at-large school board positions were Jason Collins with 171 votes, and Megan Plendl with 130 votes. Four candidates were trying for three at-large positions with the Remsen-Union’s school board. Winning the positions were Talon Penning with 199 votes and Jason Steven Loutsch with 167 votes, and Eric Harpenau with 153 votes. Neal Adler was able to retain his director position with the Western Iowa Community College earning 1,474 votes.
Le Mars Community Postal Playhouse Theater Postpones Play
(Le Mars) –– The Le Mars Community Postal Playhouse Theater has announced the upcoming play, “Till Beth Do Us Part” will now be postponed until late November or early December. The play was originally scheduled to be featured beginning on Sunday, November 14th and continuing through Saturday, November 20th. The reason for the play to be postponed is apparently a cast member has contracted the COVID-19 virus.
Labor Union Rejects Latest John Deere Contract Proposal
(Des Moines) — Members of the U.A.W. union will remain on strike against John Deere after rejecting the latest contract offer that included an immediate ten percent increase along with additional benefits. The margin was 55 percent of the labor union members voting against the offer and 45 percent voting in favor of the proposal. U.A.W. workers have now been on strike for three weeks. John Deere has manufacturing production plants at Davenport, Dubuque, Waterloo, Ottumwa, and Ankeny, as well as Rock Island and Moline, Illinois.
Union Workers Approve 5-Year Contract at Lennox Marshalltown Plant
(Marshalltown, IA) — Union workers at the Lennox facility in Marshalltown are ratifying a new five-year contract. The vote total was not released by U-A-W Local 893. Marshalltown Area Chamber of Commerce C-E-O John Hall says the “yes” vote reflects Lennox’s commitment to doing right by employees and providing meaningful employment opportunities in the area. Lennox industries employs around 950 workers its Marshalltown plant.
Alliant Energy Seeks to Own Iowa’s Largest Solar Power Facility
(Cedar Rapids, IA) — Alliant Energy plans to buy a solar installation in eastern Iowa that’s being developed by a Florida-based company called NextEra Energy. The site of the project is in Linn County, next to the Duane Arnold Nuclear Power Plant that was shut down a year ago and is being decommissioned. Transmission lines at the facility near Palo (PAY’-loh) would be used for what’s being called the Duane Arnold Solar Project. The solar panels would generate an estimated 200 megawatts of power, enough to provide electricity to more than 160-thousand homes. The plan also calls for 75 megawatts of battery storage. Another array of solar panels would be installed later and, according to Alliant, it then would be the state’s largest solar power project.
Estherville Mayor Running Unopposed Plans to Resign
(Estherville, IA) — A northwest Iowa mayor who ran unopposed in yesterday’s (Tuesday’s) election plans to resign later this month. Estherville Mayor Joseph May told the city council Monday that he has accepted a new job in ministry at a health care system based in Richmond, Virginia. May said the timing is not the best, “but in the end we’re going to pursue the calling God gave us and I’m going to take care of my family.” May moved to Estherville seven years ago and was elected mayor in 2019. He’s been the director of mission for the Holy Family Hospital in Estherville since 2016. If re-elected, the council will have the option of filling the position by appointment or holding a special election.
