Springville’s city election comes with a twist

SPRINGVILLE - One of the two victors in Springville's Nov. 7 City Council election will take the post immediately - filling out the less than two months left on a now-vacant term.

That's because, in a somewhat unusual turn of events, Springville's upcoming city election is paired with a special election to fill a council seat vacated in August.

Rather than leave the seat - formerly held by Penny Sindelar - vacant or appoint a temporary council member, the Springville City Council in September opted for a special election, which piggybacks on the Nov. 7 vote.

'This is definitely odd. This is not what we expected to happen at all,” Linn County Auditor Joel Miller said.

Springville, with a population of about 1,000, is in northeast Linn County.

How it works

Three people are running for two seats on the City Council in the Nov. 7 election: incumbent Patrick Hoyt Sr., Lyle Andersen and Jeffrey Grimley.

Becky Stonawski, Linn County deputy commissioner of elections, said the top vote-getter in that race will take office immediately. They will serve the remainder of Sindelar's term and then, beginning in January when new council members typically take office, serve a four-year term on the council.

However, if Hoyt - whose current term runs to the end of the year - is the top vote-getter, the candidate receiving the second most votes will finish out Sindelar's term and the following four-year term, Stonawski said.

Also on the ballot is the mayor's race. Four people - incumbent Roger Shebetka, Dean Besta, Richard Heeren and Deb Vaughn - are running for mayor. That race is not affected by the special council vote.

How it happened

Sindelar resigned from the City Council effective Aug. 18, with a term that did not expire until the end of the year.

At that point, the Springville City Council had three options:

l Appoint a temporary council member to fill out Sindelar's term until the next election.

l Call for a special election.

l Do nothing and let the seat sit vacant until the next city election in November.

On Sept. 20, the council selected what Auditor Miller said was the least likely of the three scenarios - hold a special election.

Mayor Shebetka said the council decided having a public vote to fill the seat was the best option.

'The City Council just felt it was best to let the voters decide since we were so close to the election anyway,” he said.

Auditor Miller said he cannot recount a similar situation in his 10 years as Linn County auditor.

Shebetka echoed that sentiment.

'It's not something that happens very often,” he said.

l Comments: (319) 339-3175; mitchell.schmidt@thegazette.com