Contested races abound in Douglas County for school boards, city councils

DOUGLAS COUNTY — Voters throughout Douglas County will have decisions to make about who will be their mayor and city council members, who will serve on school board and who will be their county commissioner.

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 8.

The filing period for cities, school boards and townships that do not have primary elections opened Aug. 2 and closed on Aug. 16. It resulted in 13 contested races:

City of Brandon – three candidates filed for two council positions, Jesse Beaumia, Jordyn Bossert and Kevin Wade Challes.

City of Carlos – three candidates are running for mayor. They are Todd Burgess, Kelly Kees and Lyle Yochim. Also three people are running for two spots in a special council election. They are Ronna Berghoff, Diane Rounds and Ashley Wildman.

City of Evansville – Michael Hudson and Emmitt Messer are vying for a special election seat on the council.

City of Kensington – Brock Green, Jared Johnson and Joe Miles filed for two positions on the city council.

City of Miltona – Alan Bettermann and Brian Carpenter both filed for mayor. Also, five candidates are vying for two council seats, Kevin Lee, Joseph Leesch, Mickey Lint, David Ward and Pam Ward.

City of Osakis – Three candidates, Randy Anderson, Laura Backes and Stephanie Finnegan, filed for two city council seats that are up for election.

Osakis School Board – five candidates filed for three spots on the board. They are Fran Breiter, Greg Faber, Corey Goodwin, Jeffrey Kalpin and Jonathan Ries.

Minnewaska School Board – six people filed for three positions on the board and include Miriah Cassidy, Will Harvey, Zachery Lagred, Amanda Ogdahl, Ted Reichmann and Randall Sander. Also, two candidates filed for another position on the school board, Lisa Martin and Justin Zavadil.

West Central Area School Board – six candidates filed for three positions. They are Persephone England, Anthony Green, Michelle Nessman, Jared Olson, Dale Rau, Sara Strunk.

Parkers Prairie School Board – five people filed for four positions. They are Christy Hart, Shawn Hoemberg, Steven Inwards, Judith Moeller and Brad Ost.

There are other contested local races that had an earlier filing period that ended back on May 31. This includes:

City of Alexandria – two candidates vying for the Ward 4 seat. They are Nicole Mace and Ronald Sik.

Alexandria School Board – Vern Engstrom and Alan Zeithamer filed for position 2; Shawn Reilly and Lynn Lommen were the two top vote-getters in a primary and will be on the ballot for position 3; Sandra Susag and Laura Knudsen received the most votes in a primary and will be on the ballot for position 4.

Douglas County Board – Tim Kalina and James Stratton filed for District 2; Heather Larson and Shane Schmidt are running in District 5.

The county’s four incumbent elected officials are running unopposed and include Auditor/Treasurer Vicki Doehling, Sheriff Troy Wolbersen, Attorney Chad Larson and Recorder Mary Skillings.

As has been the case in past elections, some local positions will be decided by write-in votes because no one filed.

This includes Forada city clerk/treasurer; Garfield mayor; Millerville mayor; and Brandon-Evansville School Board members at large, which drew two candidates, Jana Anderson and Stacy Beaumia, for three positions.