Nov. 7 elections set with some contests, some empty slots

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com 

There will be contested races for a couple of seats, but other positions will have to rely on write-in candidates to fill them in the Nov. 7 city elections for Floyd County communities.

The deadline to file nomination papers to get on the Nov. 7 ballot was 5 p.m. Thursday at the Floyd County Auditor’s Office.

In Charles City, two candidates are running for the seat being vacated by longtime Mayor Jim Erb. Dean Andrews and Matt Lovik will challenge for the position.

For the Charles City Council, only the incumbents have filed for re-election to retain their seats. Barring any unusual circumstances, DeLaine Freeseman and Gerald Joerger are likely to win additional terms each.

The most hotly contested races in the county are for Rockford City Council, where seven people are running for three at-large seats, including all three incumbents seeking re-election, and for the Marble Rock City Council, where six people are running for three at-large seats, including all three incumbents.

Other races are for the Nora Springs City Council, where three people are running for two seats, and the Rudd City Council, where four people are running for two seats.

No one filed for Colwell mayor, and only incumbent Judy Budwig filed for one of five available Colwell City Council seats.

No one filed for Nora Springs mayor, either.

Amanda Theilen, the Floyd County election clerk, released this list of official candidates Thursday evening (“i” means incumbent):

• Charles City mayor — Dean Andrews and Matt Lovik.
• Charles City Council (2 seats) — DeLaine Freeseman (i) and Gerald W. Joerger (i).
• Colwell mayor — No one filed.
• Colwell City Council (5 seats) — Judy Budwig (i).
• Floyd mayor — Trevis K. O’Connell (i).
• Floyd City Council (2 seats) — Kevin Krueger (i) and Charlie Newman (i).
• Marble Rock (3 seats) — J.R. Ackley (i), Beverly Fisher, Gary L. Schmidt (i), Todd Schriever (i), Kaylah Schweizer and Steven Wells.
• Nora Springs mayor — No one filed.
• Nora Springs City Council (2 seats) — Larry Cross, James Kraninger and Margaret Ueker (i).
• Rockford mayor — Scott Johnson (i).
• Rockford City Council (3 seats) — Vernon Arndt (i), N. Bruce Inman, Derek Johnson, Diane Marker, Daniel Paulus, Michael J. Smith (i) and Jason Stokes (i).
• Rudd mayor — Donna Lunsford.
• Rudd City Council (2 seats) — Jeffrey C. Buland, Matthew A. Bouillon, Mike Rachut and Tyler Scheer.