Residents seek school and city elected offices

Voters will have choices  between the familiar faces of incumbents and the new faces of challengers in local races when they go to the polls Nov. 8. The filing period closed Aug. 16.

Staples-Motley School Board incumbents Chad Longbella and Bryan Winkels, both of Staples, will be joined on the ticket by Creig Dobson and Greg Frisk, both with Motley addresses. The four will be vying for three seats on the board. The third incumbent, Roy DiGiovanni, did not file for re-election.

Mary Theurer and Doug Case are two incumbents seeking to retain their seats on the Staples City Council. Charles Tester, Rachel Johnson and Brian Fisher have also filed, making it a five person race to fill the four open seats. Council members Mike Isenberg and Kevin Jenkins did not file to retain their seats.

Chris Etzler, the current mayor of Staples, has chosen to run again. No one else filed. 

Two council positions and the mayor’s job will be open in the City of Motley. Al Yoder and Amy Hutchinson have filed for mayor. Both are current council members but their seats are not up for election this year. 

Nancy Nieken, the current mayor, chose not to run again.

The terms of Steve Johnson and Pat O’Regan are expiring this year. Both filed for the council again as reported in last week’s Staples World, but O’Regan withdrew his name later in the filing period. Johnson will remain on the ballot with Nate Douglas and Robert Follis in a contest for the two open seats. 

Nine spots on the United District Hospital Board are also up for election in November. Those candidates will be published in next week’s paper.

In the races in District 9 for the state legislature incumbent Senator Paul Gazelka is being challenged by Jason Weinerman. Incumbent Rep. Ron Kresha will be running against Dustin Simmonds. Meg Litts of Staples and John Poston, Lake Shore, are vying for the seat held by Mark Anderson, who chose not to run again.