The polls were busy today in Webster City. Voters cast their ballots for the contested City Council race at St. Paul Lutheran Church.

The polls opened at 7 a.m. and a steady stream of area residents moved through the polling site throughout the day, according to election officials.

Things moved a little slower in the other communities, according to Kim Schaa, county auditor and commissioner of elections.

"It was kind of slow in the outlying communities, but we had several towns that didn't have full ballots. We had very few calls in our office today, which usually means its slow at the polling sites," she said.

Blairsburg

Troy Hassebrock was elected mayor of Blairsburg with 31 votes. Two write-in votes were cast for Marlin Pruismann.

Kacey Flikkema and Rodney E. Harris were both elected to City Council at-large seats, with 25 and 27 votes, respectively.

Ellsworth

Brett Hodnefield was elected mayor with 57 votes. Greg Campbell received 52 write-in votes for mayor.

Kris Groth and Marty Jensen were elected to the City Council with 87 votes and 58 votes, respectively. Stephen M. Holt received 47 votes. A write-in candidate, Dean Schmitz received 14 votes.

Jewell

Mickey Walker received 70 votes and was elected mayor of Jewell. Kenn Outzen, 62 votes, Leo J. Reiter, 66 votes, and Rick Young, 70 votes, were all elected to seats on the City Council.

Kamrar

Greg Philbrook was elected to the Kamrar City Council with 27 votes while Scott D. Nieman claimed another seat with 21 votes. The third council member is yet to be decided as two candidates - David Mayo and Jason Moon - each received 19 votes. The winner of that race will be determined by the Hamilton County Supervisors at the next meeting, according to election officials.

Randall

No one was listed on the ballot as a candidate for Randall mayor, but write-in candidate Chris Gunderson claimed the seat with 18 votes. Eight other candidates also received at least one write-in vote.

Michelle Culver and Scott Stephens were welected to the City Council with 27 and 33 votes, respectively. A third seat went to write-in candidate Linda Norem with 18 votes. Eight other names received at least one write-in vote.

Stanhope

Harold Hove was elected mayor of Stanhope with 46 votes cast. Trent Flockhart received 43 votes and was elected to the City Council along with Gary Baker Jr. who received 35 votes. John R. Nelson received 9 votes and Samantha Ekstein received three write-in votes.

Stratford

Mike Neperenny was re-elected mayor of Stratford with 122 votes.

Brian Wilde, Amber Shroyer and Julie Ehresmann were elected to the Stratford City Council. Wilde received 123 votes, Shroyer claimed 96 and Ehrsmann received 93. Chase Haman, who was also on the ballot, received 89 votes.

Williams

Linda Solberg was elected mayor of Williams with 69 votes. Challenger Todd Hauge received 23.

Kim Schimp was elected to the City Council with 79 votes. Dennis Frayne and Margaret Ronnfeldt were also elected to the council with 48 and 47 votes respectively. Twelve write-in candidates also received votes.

Contact Anne Blankenship at editor@freemanjournal.net or call 832-4350.