Washington city officials facing reelection plan to run again

WASHINGTON — With state code opening the floodgates for city nomination petitions next week, election season is just around the corner.

Iowa code permits city election candidates to file for their spot on the ballot from Aug. 23 to Sept. 16 this year, with Election Day set for Nov. 2.

In Washington, every elected official with a term expiring in 2021 plans to defend that seat in November. That includes three City Council members and Mayor Jaron Rosien.

“I want to continue to see the projects that we’ve started and the projects that we have yet to start come to fruition,” Rosien said. “I care about the things that we’re working on and want to continue to give them the attention and care that they deserve as we keep our eye on the big picture.”

Rosien pitched his experience as a leader and knowledge of government goings-on across the city as reasons he thought residents should vote for his next term.

“One part of the job I enjoy most is facilitating discussion between other elected officials. Ensuring that topics are looked at closely and discussed thoroughly and efficiently would be one thing that I bring to the table,” he said. “I’ve had the privilege to sit on a number of boards and commissions, including the minibus board, the SEMCO landfill board, the emergency management and 911 commission, and in those duties I have learned a lot.”

Rosien won his last election in a landslide in 2017, with a final tally of 1,019-279, nearly 80 percent of the vote.

In the 2nd Ward, council member Steve Gault said he planned to run again, pitching himself as a common sense representative of his ward.

“I am one of the ones that keeps it most down to earth,” he said. “I’m elected by my constituents, and I do what they want. There are some others who put their wants before what the constituents do.”

Gault ran unopposed in 2017, though the 2016 special election when he won the seat filling a vacancy was hotly contested, finishing 54-45, a low turnout given the ward’s 1,125 registered voters that year.

Gault said his constituents seemed happy with his decisions in office.

“I’ve done it for five years, and haven’t had a whole lot of complaints about my job performance,” he said. “I’ve had people tell me I’m doing well when I’ve been approached.”

Ward 4 council member Fran Stigers is up for reelection as well, after his first term on the council.

“I would say most of the decisions I make are decisions that I’ve asked my constituents, the people I represent, what they want me to say,” he said. “I’ve done that on some very hard issues, such as the firework ordinance. I went door-to-door through my whole ward, and it came out roughly 70-30, and that’s why I voted for fireworks not to be banned.”

Stigers said he hoped to tackle housing issues with the council in a second term.

“I think we have some housing issues at all levels that we need to address,” he said. “I want to see that happen, I want to see the city keep moving forward the way we have been for the last four years.”

The Ward 4 council position has an interesting history. The seat was previously held by now-Mayor Rosien, who ran unopposed for it in 2013. In 2017, when Stigers was elected, he won the plurality in a three-way race, earning 144 of the 327 votes cast.

At-large City Council member Elaine Moore is up for reelection as well.

“I have been a part of this community, I’ve raised my two daughters here,” she said. “I know the community, I know the people of this community, I’m a level head when it comes to the community, and I think I have a good balance.”

Moore campaigned on her ability to represent her constituents.

“I try to represent all people from all walks of life,” she said. “Everybody from low income to high income,” she said. “I believe everybody has a voice and I hope I give that voice to everybody.”

Moore won her seat 783-411 in the 2017 election.

Although council member Danielle Pettit-Majewski will have to move to Johnson County in the next six months for her new position as Public Health director there, an election for her seat as the Ward 1 council member seems unlikely.

The former Washington County public health director said she did not plan to resign before the election filing deadline closes Sept. 16, five days after the 52-day cutoff that would automatically put her council seat on the ballot in November, according to Iowa Code.

County Election Administrator Sue Meeks said a special election to fill the seat after that point would likely wait until next year.

“We have to have so many days’ notice before,” she said. “It’s 32 days for a special election, but for a city-school election like on Nov. 2, we need more.”

Meeks said anything after Sept. 11 would set up an appointment to carry out the remainder of Pettit-Majewski’s term, which ends in 2023. That appointment could be challenged by a petition for election from ward 1 residents, however, setting up a special election to fill the seat before then.

Pettit-Majewski had previously said she didn’t know when she would make the move, but emphasized that it was a personal decision, not affected by her seat on the council.

“When I know, I will make that clear,” she said. “I have not made a decision, and I do not have a time frame.”

Those interested in running for city offices can acquire the necessary materials from City Hall or from the Iowa secretary of state’s website. To run, hopefuls will have to submit an affidavit of candidacy and a nomination petition with at least 25 signatures from the ward they plan to represent. These files must be submitted to City Hall or the County Auditor’s office by 5 p.m. on Sept. 16.