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Mitchell, Thompson win seats on Marshalltown city council

Recount expected as Second Ward race unofficially decided by two votes; two area bond issues fail

By Robert Maharry 5 min read

At-large incumbent Gary Thompson and Second Ward challenger Mark Mitchell unofficially won seats on the Marshalltown city council in Tuesday's election, but the race between Mitchell and incumbent Gabe Isom will likely go to a recount as the initial margin of victory was just two votes according to unofficial results.

Thompson, a longtime Lennox employee who founded the UPS Store in Marshalltown, won relatively comfortably after receiving 1,141 (61.2 percent) of the 1,851 votes cast in his contest against challenger Leopoldo "Sunny" Reyes, the owner of Brother's Garage. In a subsequent interview, he said he was "humbled" by the support he had received and hoped his message of fiscal restraint and gradual improvement of the community had found a welcome audience.

"I'd like to believe I have their support, and maybe people just want to see some of the commonsense approaches to some of this stuff," Thompson said.

He added that he expected both races to be close and characterized the unofficial results as further backlash against the proposed five percent franchise fee on gas and electric bills that was defeated in a special election held in September. His goal during a second term is to focus on road repair, a topic of much discussion throughout the year at council meetings.

"Boring can be sexy. Fixing streets can be sexy, you know," Thompson said. "The things that got us here, we can't change. We need to slow down. If we could go back in time and fix some of the needs, which we have to fix now, then when we get caught up on the needs, let's go for some of this cool stuff... People want the basic services taken care of."

Mitchell, a first-time candidate, was thankful for the win, as close as it was, and stressed a message similar to Thompson's of focusing on "roads and codes" during his campaign.

"God was in control of this whole thing from the time that I took my nomination papers from one of the other councilmen, and he's been with me walking through the whole ward. So I just give him all the thanks," Mitchell said. "It was like David and Goliath, and I guess David won this one."

He said he plans to hold meet and greets to familiarize himself with the constituents in the ward while continuing to share his platform, and he attributed his win to working hard, hitting the streets and knocking on doors.

Isom has served the Second Ward since 2018 after narrowly prevailing in a special election before subsequently winning a full term during the 2019 cycle. If Mitchell is confirmed as the winner after a recount, Isom would continue to serve until the end of the calendar year.

"Two votes is obviously within the margin that a recount should occur, so I'd expect one. Either way, I've been blessed to be a part of the growth Marshalltown has experienced over the last six years and just hope it doesn't reverse course," Isom said.

Reyes could not be reached for immediate comment. Fourth Ward incumbent Al Hoop won another term after running unopposed and receiving 386 votes.

State Center, BCLUW bond votes fail

Elsewhere in the area, a pair of high profile bond votes failed to obtain the 60 percent supermajorities needed to pass, one by a razor thin margin.

State Center asked voters to approve a $1.5 million bond issue for the construction of a new fire and EMS station on donated land near old Highway 30 on the east edge of town, but it fell just short with 190 of the 319 votes cast (59.56 percent) in favor. Had two votes gone affirmative, it would have reached the 60 percent threshold. State Center Fire/EMS Chief Brad Pfantz declined to comment for the time being as he told the T-R he was still "processing" the result.

An $8.8 million bond vote at BCLUW that would have paved the way for the district to move from three to two buildings and close the middle school in Union also failed, albeit by a wider margin. In all, 444 residents (43.5 percent) voted in favor, while 576 (56.5 percent) opposed it -- in Hardin County, where Union and Whitten are located, just 20 of the 258 votes cast (8 percent) were affirmative. Marshall County voters also rejected the bond by a fairly wide margin with 146 of 223 votes opposed, while voters in Grundy County, where the current elementary and high school in Conrad are located, supported it by a margin of 347 to 192 (64.4 percent in favor).

Alicia Matney (610 votes), current Board President Adam Probasco (562 votes), Jill Lutes (539 votes) and Jami Rolston (474 votes) won the four available seats on the school board over Paul Wayman (421 votes) and Shaelynn Farnsworth (377 votes).

Probasco, a vocal proponent of the bond issue, shared his thoughts on its failure after the results were shared online.

"Unfortunately the bond issue didn't pass, and that's very disappointing. I'm so proud of the work that was put into the preparation for this vote, and I'm excited about the opportunity to continue to fight for our students and district moving forward. As a school district, our focus doesn't change as our goal is to provide the best education possible for our students. We will also be thinking of the future and where this district is headed," he said. "A 'no' vote was a shortsighted way of thinking. An investment in our most viable buildings was and still is necessary. It ultimately is going to make things more challenging for the school and board. The newly constructed board with three new members has a lot of work ahead of us and even more decisions to make, but I believe we will be able to work more with the community so we can get this bond issue to pass."

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Contact Robert Maharry at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or

rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.

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