Changes to municipal election create crowded field

In September, the council approved a new district map, which splits up the city into four quadrants. For Michael Grimm, who has pulled a petition to run in District 4, the change was beneficial.

“Before this, we were in District 5,” Grimm said. “It opened up some new areas that were not available to us. So in my case, it was a plus to have them change the districts.”

But for District 2 incumbent Marty Novak, the district changes made his decision more difficult. He pulled petitions to run for both District 2 and at-large council positions and eventually decided he will file for an at-large seat.

“With the district changes from five to four, the district I represented pretty much only about 20% of the district would still be represented,” Novak said. “I love representing St. Joseph at large and I’ve tried to do that throughout the city.”

Council districts didn’t always exist. Gary Wilkinson, who has pulled a petition to run for mayor but has yet to announce if he is running, was pivotal in the implementation of council districts. During his time as a councilman, he proposed the idea of five districts. At one point, all of the council ran at large. Districts were added in 1989.

“You get a fair representation, both from a population standpoint and from a standpoint of demographics,” Wilkinson said. “Certain people are from certain backgrounds, and they’re going to have certain interests that they need addressed.”

The recent change from five to four districts appears to be bringing out more potential candidates, especially in the at-large race. More people also may be considering runs as three current councilmen — Gary Roach, Brian Myers and PJ Kovac — said they said aren’t running again.

As of late this week, 28 people have pulled petitions for mayor, council and municipal judge.

Districts 1, 3 and 4 each have two potential candidates thus far, while District 2 has five. The mayoral race also has five people who have pulled petitions. But the crowded field is with the four at-large council seats, as 11 people have pulled petitions for that race.

Not everyone who has pulled a petition will file. And like Novak, a couple of people have pulled petitions for two seats. While filing begins Tuesday, potential candidates still can pick up petitions and return them to the city clerk by the Nov. 23 filing deadline.

The primary election for city offices will be held on Feb. 8 followed by the general election on April 5.

“I think that the more people that we can have involved and have engaged civically, the better,” said Whitney Lanning, who has pulled a petition for mayor and plans on filing. “More people brings more diverse backgrounds and experiences.”

With every council seat up for grabs, incumbents like at-large City Councilman Kent O’Dell, stress the importance of veteran experience.

“There’s a lot of open positions this time,” O’Dell said. “If (voters) think changing everybody is the way to go, that’d be the worst thing this town could ever run into because you have all these people that are completely unknowledgeable about the runnings and the effects of the budget.”

With the new council district changes and the number of people who have already pulled petitions, this election is shaping up to be a crowded one, which Wilkinson said is a good thing.

“Competition brings out the best in people,” he said. “It brings out the issues and hopefully this will be an issue-oriented campaign and we talk about things that are needed for St. Joe, things that are going on within the city that needs to be addressed.”