Judge Mark Kruse announces retirement

Judge Mark Kruse submitted his letter of retirement effective, Feb. 14, 2022.

Kruse is serving as a judge of the Eighth Judicial District, Sub-District 8B, which includes Des Moines, Henry, Lee and Louisa counties.

He was appointed to the District Associate bench in 1997 and the District bench in 2015.

The District 8B Judicial Nominating Commission, comprised of five lawyers and five non-lawyer citizens and the senior judge in the district, who acts as chairman, received notice from Gov. Kim Reynolds of the vacancy on Nov. 2 and will be interviewing candidates to replace Kruse.

The following are the commission members:

• Judge Mary Ann Brown – chair

• Darlys Baum

• Alta Cook

• Daniel Culp

• Larry Kruse

• Mike Roth

• Sara Haas, attorney

• Nicholas Pothitakis, attorney

• Edward Prill, attorney

• Steven Sents, attorney

• Reyna Wilkens, attorney

The Judicial Nominating Commission has established procedures for filling the position of District Court Judge in Judicial District 8B, and the Supreme Court of Iowa has adopted an application to be completed by each person who wishes to apply for nomination to be a District Court Judge.

Copies of the application can be obtained from the District Court Administrator’s Office for the Eighth Judicial District, 333 North Court St., Ottumwa, IA, 52501, by emailing cathy.reck@iowacourts.gov, by calling 641-684-6502, ext. 610, or by going to the commission website at www.iowajnc.gov/district-commissions.

All applications must be received by the Court Administrator’s Office no later than 4:30 p.m., Dec. 15. No late applications will be accepted. The names of the applicants will be made available to the public after the deadline for filing applications.

Applicants must be members of the Bar of Iowa, a resident of the subdistrict of the court to which they are nominated and shall be of such age that they will be able to serve an initial and one regular term of office before reaching the age of 72.

All applications will be considered; however, if there are more applicants than can be effectively interviewed, the commission may elect to screen the applicants and interview fewer than all.

The selected applicants will be given an opportunity to appear before the entire Judicial Nominating Commission for a personal interview.

Any candidate who interviewed with the 8B Judicial Nominating Commission in November for Judge Brown’s vacancy and who wants to be considered for the current opening does not need to resubmit a new application and related information, but must simply send a letter to each commissioner and send a copy to the District Court Administrator’s Office for the Eighth Judicial District, asking that he or she be considered for the vacancy with any supplements to his or her application.

A new application may be submitted. However, the commission requests that candidates highlight any updates in the application from the submission in November.

The applicants’ submissions and materials shall be open to the public. Applicant interviews shall also be open. The public will be allowed to observe and listen but not interact.

It is expected interviews will be conducted on Dec. 20.

Prior to the interviews, the public will be permitted to submit comments or recommendations regarding the qualifications of an applicant to the District Court Administrator’s Office for the Eighth Judicial District, 333 North Court St., Ottumwa, IA 52501 or by emailing cathy.reck@iowacourts.gov.

The Commission will submit the names of two nominees to Governor Reynolds who will then have 30 days to appoint one to fill the vacancy.