Trio of candidates seeking vacant city council seat

By Seth Boyes,

Voters in Decorah will have another chance to exercise their civic duty before 2024 passes into the history books. A special election for a vacancy on the Decorah City Council will be held Tuesday, Dec. 10, and three candidates have filed papers in pursuit of the council’s available at-large seat.

Candidates Kent Klocke, Paul Wanless and Cody Whittle have all thrown their hats in the ring to join the city council. Former Decorah City Council member Ross Hadley stepped down from his at-large position earlier this fall after announcing his intent to do so in July. Hadley’s term was set to expire Dec. 31, 2025.

City officials voted Sept. 3 to hold a special election to fill the vacancy, rather than appoint a new council member. City officials had at one point hoped to conduct the non-partisan race during this month’s general election, but state restrictions on scheduling elections required the upcoming race be decided no earlier than next month.

Winneshiek County Auditor Ben Steines confirmed the successful candidate in next month’s three-way race must secure more than 50 percent of the vote in order to be declared the winner. If none of the three candidates are able to do so, the two most popular candidates will face off at the ballot box four weeks later. Steines noted Decorah is the only city in Winneshiek County which includes run-off provisions in its city ordinances, and he said a potential run-off election could be held on Jan. 7 if need be.

The Decorah Leader is in the process of contacting each candidate for a Q&A feature ahead of the upcoming special election. 

Submit A Comment

Fill out the form to submit a comment. All comments require approval by our staff before it is displayed on the website.

Subscribe
Notify of
1 Comment
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Rita Friest
Guest
6 days ago

There was an interview with Kent Klocke a while back and now I can’t find it. Could you send it to me?