Mims, Dickens, Champion take seats in Iowa City

The Iowa City Council will have two new members and retain a longtime colleague.

Amid dismal voter turnout, at-large candidates Susan Mims and Terry Dickens and District B three-term incumbent Connie Champion were elected to the seven-member council Tuesday.

The new council will be seated in January and get to work right away on what is expected to be a tight budget as the city struggles through the recession.

The search for a new city manager and public safety concerns, particularly violence on the southeast side and downtown, are other top items the council is expected to take on early next year.

A total of 4,682 people voted out of 48,422 registered voters for a turnout rate of 9.67 percent, according to preliminary results last night from the Johnson County Auditor's Office. The results are unofficial until the vote canvass Monday by the county's supervisors.

That's the lowest turnout rate and the second-lowest number of voters since at least 1975.

Champion edged Mark McCallum for her seat, 2,221 votes to 2,049. She said last night she didn't think she'd win.

“I think I have common sense,” Champion, 69, co-owner of Catherine's clothing store, said in explaining her victory. “I think I'm a true moderate - that's why I'm surprised I won.”

She added that she thought McCallum, 49, a real estate agent, would have done a great job on council. The two had a friendly campaign and even drove together to a results-watching party at BlackStone restaurant. The other candidates were there, too.

Mims, 52, a financial planner with Heartland Investment Associates, led the way Tuesday with 3,530 votes. She said she wants the City Council, after hiring a city manager, to develop a strategic plan.

“I think having a strategic plan can help us in making those decisions” on the budget, she said.

Dickens, 54, co-owner of Herteen & Stocker Jewelers, collected 3,273 votes. He said tackling the budget will be the next big undertaking for the council.

“It's like our business, over the past year and a half, we've had to make cuts,” he said. “You have to look at every dollar you spend.”

Trailing Mims and Dickens in the at-large race were two University of Iowa undergraduate students, 21-year-old Jeff Shipley (830 votes) and 20-year-old Dan Tallon (742 votes).

At-large incumbents Amy Correia and Mike O'Donnell did not seek re-election.