Incumbents win Cedar Rapids Council seats

CEDAR RAPIDS - The incumbents ruled the day on Election Day in Cedar Rapids.

Incumbents Ann Poe and Susie Weinacht won in the at-large race, incumbent Scott Olson topped district 4, and Scott Overland won in an uncontested race in district 2.

'It's support for our platform, the issues we laid out,” Poe said. 'We need to continue the economic growth and redevelopment of our community, to grow jobs locally. Our streets - Paving for Progress - need to be measurable and impartial and done in a timely fashion, and secure funding for flood protection.

'We need to stay the course we have laid out,” Poe said.

Four of nine city council seats were up for election this cycle. All are four-year terms, which begin at noon, Jan. 2, 2016. The part-time positions pay $17,605.62 annually.

In the at-large race - the most hotly contested - five candidates vied for two seats. One-term incumbents Poe, 63, and Weinacht, 52, who has been part-time manager for RWDSU-UFCW Local 110 union in recent years faced challengers small business owner and City Planning Commissioner Carletta Knox-Seymour, 62; former council member and television reporter Wade Wagner, 57; and Bridgett Wood, 27, an account technician at the Linn County Auditor's Office.

'I think it is a vote of confidence, (voters) are happy with the way we are going and agree with the vision we passed,” Weinacht said.

Poe with 26.39 percent of the vote and Weinacht with 25.35 percent avoided the need for a runoff.

In District 4 on the city's west side, one-term incumbent Olson, 69, a Realtor, defeated Lisa Kuzela, 52, a vocal critic of city government, by a 54-45 margin.

'As I've walked the neighborhoods, people are excited about the future, excited about what we have going on in our city,” Olson said. 'But they also had issues - paving, trails, crime - just a cross-section of items that are still concerns. We still have a lot of work to do.”

Scott Overland, vice president of investments at Cedar Rapids Bank and Trust Co. and City Planning Commission chairman, won an uncontested race for the east side District 2 seat. Two-term incumbent Monica Vernon, who is running for the U.S. House of Representatives, did not seek re-election.

The proposed levy for the public library, which failed, drove many to the polls, but other city issues also were on the minds of voters on Tuesday.

'I want to see a change in our city council,” said Marie Hobbs, 72, after she cast a ballot for Wagner and Wood at the Moose Lodge. 'I am dissatisfied with how our city is being run, and we need some new blood.”

Kevin Visser, who cast a vote at Bethany Lutheran Church near Washington High School, said potholes, street maintenance and 'increasingly high city taxes” topped his issues. He cast a single vote for Poe, although he was hopeful a newcomer would join her in the at-large race.

Equity was a top issue for Kimberley Dukes, 46, who also voted at Bethany Lutheran Church after work.

'Equity in opportunity and equity in (flood) protection,” Dukes said. 'I feel like we have a lot of class division. I am looking for someone who will make the city equitable for all who live here.”

During campaign forums, candidates discussed the possibility of community recreation centers in each quadrant of the city to serve seniors and provide activities for youth as the city grapples with an outbreak of gun violence. Also discussed were the priorities of the 10-year, $180 million Paving for Progress program to fix streets, continued rebuilding after the flood and economic development.

Voters cast 1,185 absentee ballots.

The incumbents - Olson, Poe and Weinacht - and Overland, were the big fundraisers. Through the most recent filing deadline, Oct. 29, Weinacht raised $24,833 in campaign contributions, Poe $21,310, Olson $11,050 and Overland $11,975.

Kuzela raised $3,042, including a $1,000 loan, and Knox-Seymour $1,865. Wood and Wagner did not file financial disclosures, which are required only if a candidate raises or spends $1,000 or more

Turnout in recent elections has hovered around 20 percent of registered voters, including 23 percent in the 2013 city election, and 20 percent in the 2011 election.