Monday was the last day to turn in candidate petitions for the April 4, 2017 municipal elections. Here is a roundup of local candidate filings.
Waterloo

While most of the elections will include incumbents running unopposed for city council or school board, Waterloo will experience a few changes.

Retired Waterloo Police Chief Jim Trantham filed his candidate petition for the Ward 2 alderman seat after his wife Rita Trantham chose not to run for another term. He will be opposed by Emily Whelan, who also filed in Ward 2.

Ward 1 will remain uncontested with incumbent Russ Thomas running for re-election.
In Ward 4, retired city building inspector/code administrator Russ Row will run unopposed as a first-time candidate. He was appointed to Vicki Koerber’s seat at Monday’s city council meeting. Koerber now serves as a county commissioner. Row must run for election to serve the next four years since Koerber’s term was set to expire in April.

Kyle Buettner will run unopposed in Ward 3, as incumbent Gerry Frederick will not seek another term.

The Waterloo School Board elections will include fresh faces since board members Dwight Boehm and Steve Wheat will not run for re-election. Board president Johnny Caupert (Township 2-10) is the only one on the board seeking another term.

James Yaekel Jr. (Township 2-10), Kim Ahne (Township 2-9), Neil Giffhorn (Township 3-9) and Jason Wagenknecht (Township 3-9) also filed as school board candidates.

For the Waterloo Park District Board, commissioners Joann Harlin, Ken Niemann and Keith Buettner all filed for re-election.

Columbia
Columbia’s candidates for city council, mayor and city clerk include only incumbents. Mayor Kevin Hutchinson will run for re-election, as will city clerk Wes Hoeffken. Aldermen James Agne (Ward 1), Mark Roessler (Ward 2), Gene Ebersohl (Ward 3) and Mary Ellen Niemietz (Ward 4).

Columbia School Board members Karen Anderson, John Long, Greg O’Connor and Brad Roessler (unincorporated) filed for re-election. Robert Schlegel also threw his hat into the ring as a candidate.

Long was appointed to the school board in June following longtime board member Ron Langhans’ retirement. Since Langhans’ term was set to expire in April, Long must run for election to serve the next four years on the board.

Valmeyer
Mayor Howard Heavner will run unopposed in Valmeyer for re-election, as will village trustees Eugenia Langsdorf and Roy Unterseh. Tim Valentine will run unopposed for the seat of trustee James Pflasterer, who will not seek another term. In the 2015 elections, Valentine ran against trustee Kyle Duffy and lost by one vote.

The school board race will include board members Bruce Brinkman (Township 3-11) and John Niebruegge (Township 4-11)  running for re-election, with Daniel McCarthy not seeking another term. Bob Friedrich (Township 2-11), Justin Rohlfing (Township 2-11) and Stefanie Johnson-Tyberendt (Township 3-11) will run for school board as well.

Hecker
Hecker will see every incumbent running unopposed, including mayor Charlie Kujawski, village clerk Annette Schreder and trustees Arnold Eckart, James Mueth and Trisha Maddox.

Maeystown
An unusual situation is occurring in Maeystown, wherein three village trustee seats are up for election but only two of those seats have candidates who filed petitions. Tina Buchanan filed unopposed for re-election while Carla Coats and Linda Coats will not seek another term. Sandy Tutka will run unopposed for Carla’s seat.  Linda’s seat is the one that will not have a candidate to fill the position. After the elections, the mayor can appoint someone to the seat, but the board would need to vote to approve the appointment.

Fults
In Fults, trustees Merrill Prange, Jeff Williams and Linda Sutter are up for re-election unopposed.

Road districts
There are 10 Monroe County road districts, all of which have commissioner and clerk seats up for election. District 1 includes commissioner Marvin Wiegand and clerk Edward Stellhorn Jr. Wiegand will not seek another term and Stellhorn will run for re-election unopposed. Dwight Kern and Dan Amann will compete for Wiegand’s seat.

Commissioner George Gregson and clerk Kevin Poetker will run unopposed for re-election in District 2.

In District 3, Patrick Doyle is commissioner and John Gorka is clerk. Doyle will seek re-election against John Schneider. Gorka will run opposed, with Denny Heck and Kearn Kelley vying for his seat.

Jim Kuehner and Brian Leonard are District 4 commissioner and clerk, respectively, and are running unopposed.

For District 5, Edward Breeding Sr. is commissioner and Harry Reichert is clerk. Both are running unopposed.

District 6 consists of Richard Heine as commissioner and Janet Trost as clerk. Patrick Huch will run against Heine while Trost will be unopposed.

District 7 is commissioner Don Voelker and clerk Heidi Ruwald, both of who are running unopposed.

Leroy Brandt is the commissioner of District 8, with Robert Schmidt as clerk. They are running unopposed.

In District 9, Henry Marquardt serves as commissioner and Judy Garleb is the clerk. Garleb will not seek another term and Kurt Killy will run unopposed for her spot. Marquardt will run unopposed.

Finally, District 10 includes Randy Scheibe as commissioner and Paulette Englerth as clerk. Englerth will not seek another term with Aaron Scheibe running unopposed for the clerk position. Randy will also run unopposed.

Residents can call their respective clerk’s office for more information on the spring elections.