Iowa voters selected some new mayors in elections Tuesday and voters in about 30 cities decided whether to establish a city-owned telecommunications utility.
Voters in 17 of 30 towns deciding on a city-owned telecommunications utility voted in favor of the idea. It passed in some big cities like Waterloo and Dubuque and Mason City, but it failed in Marion as well as towns like Manchester, Vinton and Sidney.
Mark Daley is a spokesman for Opportunity Iowa, the group formed to press for passage of the referendums in 29 of the 30 cities. “We are thrilled that all 29 of the cities that we worked with were able to decide for themselves whether a municipal alternative was in their own best interests,” Daley says. “The fact that 17 of them shared our beliefs and voted for it we’re very excited about but for the 12 that didn’t pass it…we’re glad that their communities had this debate and that the debate took place on the community level and not in the legislature.”
Jeff Link helped coordinate the effort to defeat the referendums. “I think the voters have spoken in almost 10 communities (and they’ve) said that they didn’t want to have a risky, expensive telecom utility in their town,” Link says. “I think that the other communities are going to have a hard time convincing voters that this is worth the money.”
Turning to other election news, in Cedar Rapids Kay Halloran, a retired attorney and former state legislator (she was known as Kay Chapman when she served at the statehouse), won the job of mayor. In Waterloo, Mayor Tim Hurley won re-election. In Dubuque, Ray Buol won the job of mayor. In Davenport, Ed Winburn will be the new mayor. And Sam Jewell, an 18-year-old high school senior, was elected mayor of the small town of Roland.
In Des Moines, voters approved annexing thousands of acres in an unincorporated area. Residents in the area threaten a lawsuit. Iowa City voters rejected the idea of creating a city-owned electric utility by a two-to-one margin.
Here are results on the telecom utility votes:
Ackley passed 333 to 102.
Altoona lost 861 to 327.
Anamosa won 443 to 277.
Asbury won 413 to 259.
Carlisle lost 365 to 201.
Charles City won 640 to 385.
Cresco lost 571 to 325.
Dubuque won 8272 to 4718.
Dunlap lost 211 to 168.
Glenwood lost 414 to 79.
Hamburg won 103 to 20.
Hampton won 589 to 259.
Hiawatha lost 701 to 89.
Hudson won 365 to 196.
Iowa Falls won 501 to 336.
Lansing won 195 to 83.
Lenox won 236 to 30.
Manchester lost 954 to 470.
Maquoketa won 477 to 318.
Marion lost 2920 to 870.
Mason City won 5038 to 2363.
Nevada lost 117 to 341.
Norwalk lost 603 to 238.
Parkersburg won 311 to 145.
Sidney lost 120 to 108.
Vinton lost 517 to 461.
Waterloo won 7730 to 6836.
Waukon won 434 to 345.
West Union won 300 to 223.
Windsor Heights lost 445 to 353*
(*Windsor Heights did not work with Opportunity Iowa).