Unexpected Development In Glenwood City Election

The Glenwood city election has taken an unexpected turn.

City attorney Matt Woods and Mills County Auditor Carol Robertson have confirmed that a relatively unknown and seldom utilized provision in the city code of ordinances requires a candidate to receive a majority of the vote (more than 50 percent by state definition) to be elected to public office.

In last week’s election for mayor and three seats on the city council, only one of the four victorious candidates received the required majority - District 1 city council candidate Jeremy Wade Rodman, who ran unopposed. The other top vote getters - mayoral candidate Brian Tackett, at-large city council candidate Dan McComb and District 2 incumbent city council member Craig Florian - all received less than 50 percent of the vote.

As of early this week, Tackett, McComb and Florian were of the understanding they had been elected to office as a result of the Nov. 3 election, but according to the wording of the ordinance, they’ll now be required to compete in a run-off election against the candidate that finished in second place in their respective race. Robertson said the run-off election will be Tuesday, Dec. 1.

Jessie Lundvall was the runner-up to Tackett in the mayoral race; Ryan Roenfeld finished second to McComb for the city council at-large seat; and Laura Kuhl came in second place behind Florian for the Ward 2 council seat.

Candidates were notified of the run-off election requirement Tuesday (Nov. 10) after last week’s election results were canvassed by the Mills County Board of Supervisors.

A section in Chapter 6 of the city code of ordinances states, “A runoff election shall be held only for positions unfilled because of failure of a sufficient number of candidates to receive a majority vote in the regular city election.”

A subsequent section of Chapter 6 says, “Candidates who do not receive a majority of the votes cast for an office, but who receive the highest number of votes cast for that office in the regular city election, to the extent of twice the number of unfilled positions, are candidates in the run-off elections.”

Woods said he was asked for his interpretation of the city ordinance a couple days after the election by city clerk Angie Winquist. After reviewing the ordinance and determining a run-off election will be required, he contacted Robertson, whose office is responsible for overseeing all elections in the county.

Robertson said she and her staff were unaware of the run-off provision in the city of Glenwood’s code of ordinances. City clerks are required to complete a formal pre-election worksheet for the auditor’s office prior to scheduling an election. The worksheet has a box that can be checked if the city has a provision for run-off elections. The worksheet submitted by Glenwood for the Nov. 3 election didn’t have the run-off box checked.

Winquist said she asked for Woods’ assistance after looking over procedural documents following the Nov. 3  election.

“After the election, since they were so close, I started reading through the city election stuff and saw the run-off election procedures so I inquired about it, just to make sure we were doing it right. It’s all new to me.” Winquist said.

“There were three (candidates) and we typically just have two people running, so I just ran it by Matt to make sure. They hadn’t canvassed the votes yet, so Matt started investigating and that’s where he determined, yes we do have to do one (run-off election).”

Robertson said this is the first time in her tenure as county auditor that a Glenwood candidate has won an election without receiving a majority of the votes. Robertson also said that in recent memory, Glenwood elections have involved only one or two candidates running for a position.

“We haven’t had a situation where a candidate didn’t get a majority of the vote,” Robertson said.

In the Nov. 3 election, Tackett defeated Lundvall and Darcey Butts in the mayoral race, garnering 256 votes (38 percent). Lundvall received 212 votes and Butts tallied 204.

McComb, the top vote getter for the city council at-large seat, received 278 votes, topping Roenfeld (250) and Joe Sainato (101).

In Ward 2, Florian collected 87 votes, edging Laura Kuhl (69) and Todd Haggstrom (54).

Jeremy Wade Rodman was unopposed for the Ward 1 council seat and received 109 votes.

A total of 678 votes were cast in the Glenwood election, representing 20 percent of Glenwood’s 3,339 registered voters.
All municipal election results from last week’s elections in Mills County were canvassed by the Mills County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.

Additional Mills County municipal election results:

Emerson: Mayor - Max Austin 81, Rob Erickson 17; City Council (Elect 3) - Ronald Stephens Jr. 97, Heidi Pullen 85, Jennifer Shaw 67, Judith A. Magers 45.
 

Hastings: Mayor - Rich Moore 23; City Council (Elect 5) - Ivan Crawford 23, Susan Perkins 21, Alita Jones 12, Luke Miller (write-in) 8, Ava Hall (write-in) 7, Jesse Perkins (write-in) 7, Gay Courtier 6, Shari Bacon 3. City Treasurer: Jesse Jones 15.
 

Henderson: Mayor - Michael Baumfalk 36, Scott Schondelmeyer 26; City Council (Elect 3) - Cody Carrigan 57, Janelle R. Williams 50, Nicole Schondelmeyer 29, Bambi Byers 27.

Malvern: Mayor - Michael Blackburn 43; City Council (Elect 2) - Bruce Breeding 46, Kevin Williams 37.

Pacific Junction: Mayor: Andy Young 30; City Council (Elect 5) - Richard Kerres 27, Butch Green 25, Connie Turner 24, Earl Smith 22, Linda Harmon (write-in) 4.
 

Silver City: Mayor - Tommy Jensen 23; City Council (Elect 3)  - Brett Christensen (write-in) 11, Amy Freuck (write-in) 11, Paula Reeves (write-in) 6; City Council to fill vacancy - Amy Freuck (write-in) 3, Barb Miller (write-in) 3.