The West Liberty School District will see two new school board members and the city of Atalissa will have a new mayor, highlighting information compiled by Muscatine County Auditor Tibe Vander Linden and released Friday following the closing of the filing period for the Tuesday, Nov. 2 local elections.
Neither school board incumbent, Emily Geertz or Stephanie Dengler, will be on the ballot as two newcomers, Rebecca Vargas and Edward A. Moreno, will be running for the seats. Geertz, the school board president for the past several years, has been a member of the board since 2013 while Dengler has been serving the district since 2017.
Geertz said it was a difficult decision for her to make but said she has three children in high school now and misses much of their extra-curricular activities. She felt giving eight years of her time to the board was enough and, although she takes with her a lot of knowledge and history, she felt it was time to hand the baton to other community leaders.
One of the biggest surprises comes in the mayoral election in Atalissa, where incumbent Bob Schmidt decided not to run for re-election after serving just one term (two years) while Angie Dickey, a former mayor for the city, is running for the top seat in Atalissa.
Schmidt says he has already resigned his position as mayor of Atalissa because of a new employment opportunity in Burlington, managing a new body shop.
Two newcomers, Karen Rock and Scott Skubal, will be on the ballot for four-year council seats in Atalissa, to be vacated by Randy Windus and Dawn Huggins.
Back in West Liberty, there will be three candidates running for the two year mayoral post including incumbent Robert Hartman. Katherine McCullough of 905 N. Columbus Street is also vying for the seat along with Joe Olsen of 718 East Third Street.
A total of six candidates will be the ballot for West Liberty city council seats including incumbent David Smith of 415 N. Clay Street.
Others vying for four-year city council positions in West Liberty include Vanessa Espinoza of 200 East 16th Street, Dana Dominguez of 111 Maxson Drive, Ralph Remour of 201 N. Walnut Street, Nadia Olsen of 718 East Third Street and Omar Martinez of 108 East Second Street.
In the City of Nichols, Linsey Reimers is rerunning for the two-year mayoral post as the only candidate listed after completing her first term.
Five city council seats in Nichols are also up for election and four of the five incumbents are running for two-year seats including Cynthia Massey, Jay Hora, Russell Grim and John J. Hudson. Kelsie Lampe is also running for a seat on the council, given up by Kelly Loving.
Pre-registration for voters must be completed by Oct. 18 at 5 p.m. and all Iowa voters are required to show a valid photo identification at the polls before voting. Absentee ballots are also available by contacting the Muscatine County Auditor’s office.
Watch the Index as the election gets closer for more information on candidates as well as polling places.