Contested city council elections decided Tuesday

There will be a couple of new faces when city councils in Everly and Hartley meet for the first time in 2024.

In Hartley, Matt Dolphin received 162 votes while Greg Cotter tallied 151 to lock up the two open city council seats. Dolphin is a newcomer while Cotter has served on the council since July when he was appointed to fill a vacancy. Kenny Embrey was on the outside looking in with 52 votes.

In Everly, incumbent Mayor Ron Thompson edged challenger and current Council Member Tracey Grigg-Schuver by five votes, 54-49. Winners of the three open council seats were incumbents Denise Cook (85) and Tara Patrick (65) and newcomer Tatum Geerdes (72). Josh Seaman (40) and Roger "Lefty" Ginger (33) finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

Royal had no contested races on the ballot. Incumbent Royal Mayor Josh Toft won another term, as did incumbent city council members Jeff Van Westen and Jim Virelli. Newcomer Alec Nielsen also won a seat on the council.

Clay Central/Everly featured an uncompetitive ballot for school board, with incumbent Allyn Heikens (District 1) winning another term along with newcomer Amber Campbell (At-Large).

Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn's school board election featured a vacant race, as nobody filed to run in Director District 1. O'Brien County Auditor Barb Rohwer reported that Kari Van Es, of Sanborn, won as a write-in candidate with 31 votes. Sally Smith, also of Sanborn, received 12.

Pending confirmation that Van Es resides in District 1, Rohwer said she would have the option to accept the seat or reject it. Rohwer didn't expect H-M-S school board ballots from Osceola County to affect the result once they're canvassed.

"I highly doubt this is going to change because we typically don't have a lot of out-of-county votes in school board elections," she said.

Elsewhere, current H-M-S Board Member Kyle McCarter was elected to serve another term in District 4.