There were three incumbents on both the Sioux City Councils and also the Sioux City School Board who have expiring terms, and those six people made very different decisions on whether to run for re-election.
Therefore, there could be big turnover on the city council, and perhaps no change in the composition of the school board.
The filing period to become candidates for the November election in Iowa ended yesterday.
All three Sioux City council members decided not to run for additional terms, so there will be substantial turnover on that five-member council in a few months.
Councilmen Alex Watters, Dan Moore and Matthew O’Kane decided it was time for them to step back from public service.
The next step is that the nine Sioux City Council candidates will compete in a special primary election on October 7, which will reduce the field to six people on the November ballot.
Regarding the Sioux City School Board, it is possible that there could be no changes, as all three current members are seeking re-election. Dan Greenwell, Bobby Michaelson and Jan George are running again, saying they want to keep positive movements going in the school district.
Four other candidates are running for the school board, making for a field of seven. The other Sioux City School Board candidates are Cyndi Hanson, Jebediah Hibbs, A.J. Cecil-Starlin and Christian Supiot Perez.
More broadly in Iowa, voters in 99 counties will decide hundreds of school board, city council and mayor positions.
*Additionally, the Sioux City School Board will hold their regular board meeting at 6 p.m. on Monday, September 22, for their first session since a planned special closed meeting did not proceed as expected.
The September 15 meeting was designed to be held in closed fashion, as allowed by Iowa law, to discuss a personnel matter.
However, a motion to go into closed session failed. Board member Lance Ehmcke said the session was presumably about Superintendent Juan Cordova and there are rumors about him, so those should be addressed in the open.
Board President Jan George chided Ehmcke, saying he violated the rights by Cordova to have a closed meeting, as the superintendent had requested.
