Seeing the results of the Sioux City Council members election this week, Mayor Bob Scott said he is ready to work with the three new councilmen in 2026.
None of the three councilmen with expiring terms ran again, so a combined 24 years of experience will be lost at the end of December.
On Tuesday Craig Berenstein, Ike Rayford and Rick Bertrand were elected to the council. Berenstein is a former councilman.
Scott on Thursday described being mayor and a councilman himself for nearly 30 years and seeing shifts of council members, and this is no different.
“I’ve been through 13 or 14 of these elections where you have shifts on the council. I don’t know that this is a dramatic shift. I’m certainly going to make that effort, and we will see what effort they make. But I don’t think there will be any problems working with any of these people that got elected,” Scott said.
Scott said he noticed the 2025 candidates talking about the need for a better environment for businesses, reducing city taxes and addressing homelessness.
“You had people run that wanted drastic changes and you had people run that didn’t argue with the status quo. It appears both sides were successful,” Scott said.
Bertrand in particular said he wants to see noticeable changes in those areas.
The councilmen who did not run again were Matthew O'Kane, Dan Moore and Alex Watters. The holdover members are Mayor Scott and Councilwoman Julie Schoenherr, whose terms expire at the end of 2027.
