When the 2021 regular city-school elections are held Tuesday, Nov. 2, voters will decide whom to represent their city and school districts on local city councils and school boards.
While the ballot will mostly be filled with incumbents, there will likely be a shake-up atop the Wilton city ticket, as Mayor Bob Barrett decided not to run for re-election after serving as Wilton’s mayor for the past six years.
Current city council member and mayor pro tem Keith Stanley filed paperwork to run for mayor, and will run unopposed.
There are two council seats open in Wilton. Stanley’s will be vacated with his mayoral run, and council member Steve Owens has decided to run for re-election. Also running for the two open seats are Michael Rohwer and Allen (Bill) Voss.
In Durant, incumbents are running, but there will be races for both mayor and city council.
Durant Mayor Scott Spengler will run for another 2-year term. His challenger is Jamie Giltner.
Incumbent city council members Dan Sterner and Diane Quiram are on the ticket for open seats on the council. Challengers include Ken Elshoff, Tom Daufeldt, Jason Mier and Medim Alimoski.
Area city races
In the city of Stockton, Jeremiah Davis is running unopposed for mayor. Karri Rutenbeck and Cynthia Pedersen are running for two open council seats.
In Atalissa, Angie Dickey is running unopposed for mayor. Karen Rock and Scott Skubal are both running for city council.
In Bennett, Joe Sparks is running unopposed for mayor. Running for city council (three seats) are William Kreinbring, JoAnn Schneekloth, Chad Giebelstein and Christina Eicher.
School board races
There are two open school board seats in Wilton, and incumbents Rob Metzger and Tara Oien have each filed to run for re-election.
In Durant, school board president Julie Rivera and vice president Katy Oberlander each turned in paperwork to run again for two open seats. There are no other challengers.
There will also be a public measure on the Durant ballot — Public Measure DM — which is to adopt a revenue purpose statement specifying the use of revenues the Durant Community School District will receive from the state of Iowa secure an advanced vision for education fund.
* Editor's note: Questionnaires will be sent to area candidates soon, and bios will be printed in October edition(s) of the Advocate News.