The results of the April 1 election in Monroe County were released Tuesday night by the Monroe County Clerk’s Office, with two aldermanic races, a school board race and a pool referendum decided by Waterloo voters.

The referendum for a public pool in Waterloo failed by a margin of 57.55 percent to 42.45 percent, with the vote total of 1,349 against and 995 in favor. 

As decided by the Waterloo Park District in December, a referendum item was placed on the ballot asking voters whether they wished to allow the park district to borrow $6 million in bonds to be put toward design and construction of a new pool facility.

“I’d like to thank Waterloo Citizens for a Pool for all their hard work and efforts in trying to bring a pool to our community,” said Waterloo Park District President Mary Gardner on Tuesday night. “I would also like to thank the citizens who came out to vote regarding the referendum.”

After several referendums in the mid-2000s to repair or renovate the pool failed to pass with varying degrees of support from the community, the pool on Library Street was eventually closed, filled in and turned into greenspace, with 2009 serving as its last open summer.

The last vote involving a public pool in Waterloo was in February 2010 when voters rejected a park district referendum seeking $575,000 to keep the pool facility open to the public.

As for the Waterloo School Board race, four candidates were vying for three seats. All three incumbents – Neil Giffhorn, James Yaekel and John Caupert – earned re-election with candidate Lloyd Jarden missing out. Giffhorn received the most votes (2,132), followed by Yaekel (2,000). Caupert (1,640) had the third most votes, just 175 ahead of Jarden (1,465).

A two-year term available following the retirement of previous board member Kim Ahne is currently being filled by Nathan Mifflin, who ran unopposed as the only candidate to file for the remaining two years of the term.

The Waterloo Ward 3 race for a two-year term on the city council saw incumbent Kyle Buettner winning against Jason Jones Sr. by a margin of 61.42 to 38.58 percent. The vote total was 328-206 in Buettner’s favor. 

“Waterloo’s a great community,” Buettner said. “I’m happy to be a part of it and I look forward to continuing to serve on the city council for the next two years.”

The Waterloo Ward 4 race for a four-year term to succeed Russ Row went to newcomer Jordon Riley by a 53.63 to 46.37 percent margin over Ryan Hirsch. The vote total was 428-370 in Riley’s favor. 

“I’m excited to serve the community,” Riley told the Republic-Times. “My favorite part of running was meeting and connecting with the residents of Ward 4. I heard their concerns, and I’m ready to get to work. I will not let them down.”

Riley also thanked his challenger in Ward 4.

“Ryan Hirsch was a great opponent, and I hope he runs in the future as he would also be an asset to the city,” Riley said, adding, “I also want to thank my wife Amanda and our children Addison and Kody for supporting me on this adventure.”

Ward 1 Alderman Matt Buettner and Ward 2 Alderman Jim Trantham both ran unopposed.

In Monroe County Road District 2, Alex Voelker unseated incumbent commissioner George Gregson with 60.47 percent of the vote to Gregson’s 39.53 percent.

For Road District No. 2 clerk, Kevin Poetker won against Sarah Heck, garnering 56.64 percent of the vote to Heck’s 43.36 percent. 

In an unusual situation, there were only two candidates to fill four available seats on the Valmeyer School Board.

However, a recent effort using a variety of media and word-of-mouth was enough to get the required number of write-in votes to fill all vacancies.

With the successful write-in campaign, Justin Scheibe will serve an unexpired two-year term with Amanda Knobloch joining Michelle Skaggs and Stephanie Johnson-Tyberendt as the latest four-year term members on the Valmeyer School Board.

Once the election is certified, Scheibe and Knobloch will need to file required paperwork with the Monroe County Clerk’s Office to officially join the board

With most of the contested races being in the Waterloo area, voter turnout was low, according to Monroe County Clerk Jonathan McLean.

He said he anticipated 15-20 percent turnout, with a final number of 15.1 percent as of Tuesday night.

That number is subject to change, as McLean also reported there are about 1,000 vote-by-mail ballots still outstanding. He does not expect them to affect the outcome of any races, though.

McLean estimated his office would only receive about 50-100 of those ballots. He added that even with a stark departure from the existing vote-by-mail trends, the outstanding votes would not be enough to overcome existing margins of victory. 

Any mail ballots received after Tuesday must have a postmark date of April 1.

McLean also noted that 33 vote-by-mail ballots were rejected.

Those voters have two weeks to correct issues with the ballots for them to be counted. 

Otherwise, the election had few, if any, issues.

“It was a great day,” McLean said, giving credit to election judges throughout the county.

“Everyone is getting really familiar with the process,” McLean said of polling location officials, adding there were “no technical issues” with any voting equipment.

McLean also pointed out Tuesday’s election was the third in a row to use “poll pads,” referring to digital sign-in computers which utilize touch-screen pens and license scanners for voter check-in.

He also pointed out a “ballot-on-demand” feature was used this election.

Instead of using pre-printed ballots, the ballot-on-demand system prints a ballot specific to the voter upon check-in, which he said saves time and money.

The one hiccup McLean did report was a tabulating machine that fell over during setup at one polling location, but the machine was not damaged.  

All of Columbia’s races were uncontested, with all incumbents – Mayor Bob Hill, Ward 1’s Andrew Hitzemann, Ward 2’s Mike Lawlor and Ward 3’s Paul Khoury and City Clerk Derek Reichert –  running unopposed.

A new face will join the Columbia City Council as Jason Mayer ran unopposed in Ward 4, filling a vacancy created by longtime alderman Mary Ellen Niemietz choosing not to seek re-election.

There were no contests in Valmeyer, with Howard Heavner remaining village president and Robert Nowlan, Adam Tyberendt and Timothy Valentine serving as village trustees.

Hecker will see a change among its elected officials next month as current trustee Aaron Eckart takes over as mayor, taking the seat from Village President Charles Kujawski, who has served for several years but did not seek re-election.

James Mueth, Gary Wittenauer and Arnold Eckart were also uncontested for three open trustee positions while Annette Schreder returns as village clerk.

Other races in the county included the Waterloo Park District, which was also uncontested as current commissioner Keith Buettner and vice president Michael Nolte did not seek re-election.

Commissioner Gina Pfund retains her seat, and Curtis Haentzler – currently holding the seat vacated last year by Shelby Mathes – will assume one of the other available four-year terms. James Perotti also ran uncontested for the final four-year seat, and the board will now have to find someone else to finish the remaining two-year term.

Full election results may be found at mococlerk.com.