A new mayor in Salisbury and improvements to the Brookfield R-III campus are among the items voters in Chariton County considered during Tuesday’s municipal election.
Residents in Salisbury gave a majority of their votes to Ronnie Stowers to become the city’s next mayor. Stowers had 152 votes or nearly 59 percent, to Steve Sanders’ 85 and Eddie Hubbard’s 20. Stowers will be sworn in at Salisbury’s board of aldermen meeting April 17 and succeed Steve Kacvinsky, who is retiring after 12 years as mayor. Josiah Gordon and Melanie Latamondeer were unopposed in their bids for the board, while Drew Curley picked up 19 write-in votes for the third ward seat where no candidate had filed.
In Brunswick, voters re-elected Wendell Turner to the city council with 24 votes. He came in second to Nicole Schuchmann, who led with 39 votes. Wade Jenkins was third with 22 votes. Brunswick voters also approved a measure to forgo elections if the number of candidates for the council equals the number of seats available. Voters in Keytesville overwhelmingly (70-19) supported an increase in the annual tax rate for their fire protection district, bringing the rate from 20 cents to 30 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.
A number of Chariton County voters were able to weigh in on ballot items from Linn County. Two Chariton County voters turned out for the Brookfield R-III bond measure, splitting on whether the district should issue $3.9 million in bonds to fund safety improvements and equipment upgrades around the district. Linn County’s voters favored the measure by a 395-187 margin. Ryan Burns and Brenda Hueffmeier ran unopposed for three-year terms on the board of education. No turnout from Chariton County was reported for the Marceline City Council race, which saw Jacob Clay and Clarence “Matt” Gibson win the two seats available. Clay was first with 72 votes, while Gibson was second with 65, receiving his first full term on the council after his appointment in December. Incumbent Brian Baker was third on 55 votes.
An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified Clay as having been appointed to the Marceline City Council in December, and has been corrected.