Sheldon, Iowa — The filing deadline has passed, and there are officially two people running for Mayor of Sheldon, and four running for City Council At-Large.
The deadline to file was 5:00 Friday afternoon, when nominating petitions bearing at least 27 signatures had to be returned to the City Clerk’s Office for the May 21st special election.
The two names on the ballot for Mayor will be Greg Geels and Fred Grein. Those running for the vacant at-large seat on the council are Wayne Barahona, Rick Nordahl, Kerwin Sterler and Wayne Burnette. There is no run-off system, so someone can win with a plurality, meaning the candidate with the most votes wins.
The election story began when Mayor Katricia Meendering resigned as mayor to accept the General Manager position at the Crossroads Pavilion event center. At that time the Sheldon City Council decided to simply appoint a replacement for Meendering. Four individuals had expressed an interest in the position, Fred Grein, Wayne Barahona, Bob Engel and Greg Geels. The council appointed Geels as mayor, which required him to relinquish his at-large council seat. The council had originally intended to appoint someone to fill that seat, as well.
A petition was presented to the Sheldon City Council, bearing the signatures of 27 Sheldon residents petitioning for the mayor’s position to be put to a vote of the citizens. That petition forced what is known as a ‘reverse referendum’, which will happen as a special election May 21st. Once the special election for mayor was on the table, the council voted to put the at-large council seat on that ballot, as well.
Polls for the May 21st special election will be open from 7:00 am to 8:00 pm, and voters will cast their ballots in the Sheldon Community Services Center, 3rd Floor, Room B, according to Sheldon City Manager Sam Kooiker. He says people can vote at the County Auditor’s Office in Primghar until 5:00 pm Monday, May 20th. Kooiker says we’ll find out soon when the absentee ballots will be available.
The person elected as mayor will serve the remainder of the unexpired term, until January, 2022. The person who wins the council seat will fill out the remainder of that unexpired term which runs until January 1, 2020. The council seat will be on the ballot again in the November general election, since this is the last year of that unexpired term.
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Posted 11:18 am April 25, 2019
Sheldon, Iowa — Two more Sheldon residents have taken out nomination papers for the special election to select a mayor and at-large council person.
As of mid-day Wednesday, six people had taken out papers, three each for the mayor’s race, and at-large council seat. However, according to Sheldon City Clerk Angie Beckman, two additional sets of nomination papers were taken out Wednesday afternoon, though Beckman says she’s not sure which race the two most recent people are interested in entering.
The election was forced by a petition bearing the signatures of 37 Sheldon residents after the council appointed Greg Geels as mayor. The council seat up for grabs is the at-large position that Geels was forced to resign in order to be appointed mayor.
Should all eight sets of papers be returned, City Attorney Micah Schreurs tells KIWA that, even though each race may have more than two people running, the winner needs only a plurality, which means the top vote-getter in each race will win the election.
This Friday, April 26th, is the deadline for candidates to file their papers with the City Clerk. As of late morning Thursday, Beckman says there has been just one set of papers filed, and those are for a candidate for mayor.
The Sheldon City Office closes daily at 4:30, but Beckman says she will stay Friday until 5:00 pm to accept nomination papers. The election is scheduled for Tuesday, May 21st. The cost of this special election will be borne by the City of Sheldon, according to O’Brien County Auditor Barb Rohwer, who says that the cost could be as much as three-thousand-dollars.
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Original story posted 11:46 am, April 24, 2019
Sheldon, Iowa — If everyone who has taken out nomination papers for Sheldon’s special election returns them by the deadline, it looks to be a three-way race for both mayor and council.
As of Wednesday morning three individuals had taken out papers to run for mayor, with one of the three having returned the paperwork Tuesday afternoon. In addition, three other individuals have taken out nomination papers for the at-large council seat vacated when Greg Geels was appointed mayor on April 15th.
The deadline for filing the papers for both races is the end of business this Friday, April 26th. Sheldon City Manager Sam Kooiker says each nominating petition will require twenty-seven signatures to be eligible to place the person’s name on the ballot for the May 21st special election. Kooiker says the names of the individuals who have taken out nomination papers for both offices aren’t public record until Friday’s filing deadline passes.
The winner of the Mayoral election would serve from the time of the canvassing of votes until January 1, 2022. The winner of the at-large council seat would serve until January 1st next year, and would need to run again this fall for reelection to a full four-year term.
The ball began rolling toward May’s special election when former mayor Katricia Meendering resigned to become the general manager of the Crossroads Pavilion event center. At that time the council had solicited Letters of Interest from citizens interested in being appointed as the city’s mayor. At that time there were four individuals who expressed interest in the position, from which the council voted to appoint at-large councilman Greg Geels as mayor.
During a special city council meeting on April 15th, Geels took the oath of office as Mayor of Sheldon, resigning his council position in the process. At that time the council had intended to appoint someone to the vacant at-large council seat. That all changed during the regular council meeting April 17th, when a petition signed by thirty-seven Sheldon residents, forced what is called a ‘reverse referendum’, and necessitated the May special election. Since there now would be a special election, the council opted at the April 17th meeting, to place Geels’ former council seat on the May 21st ballot, as well.
