Hausauer wins re-election; Thyne, Radermacher elected

Residents of the City of Ortonville re-elected Gene Hausauer to a four-year term as Mayor in the General Election held on Tuesday, Nov. 5. Unofficial totals had Hausauer with 522 votes, and Jake Dorry, who currently serves on the Ortonville City Council with 452 votes. There were four write-in ballots. Dorry’s term on the city council will end on Jan. 1, 2025.

In the City Council election, fivecandidates were on the ballot to fill three positions on the council. Reelected to the council was incumbent  Matt Karels with 767 votes. Dillon Dwyer received 573 votes and Walter Melton received 299 votes and both will take seats on the city council. Brenda Keller received 279 votes and Tifnie LaCabe received 226 votes. There were 13 write-in votes.

The Ortonville School District elected one new board member and two incumbents to serve four-year terms on the School Board. Lindsey Lee, 963 votes, joins the Ortonville School Board as its new board member. Peter Vangsness, 1,013 votes, and Brett Kaye, 904 votes, were both re-elected to the Ortonville School Board. Joel Stattelman received 857 votes, Josh Wollschlager received 590 votes, and Tyler Harnish received 243 votes. There were 14 write-ins in the election.

In a Special Election for a School Board Member, the Ortonville School District elected Heather Henrich with 1,640 votes compared to Jessica Larson’s 139 votes. This is for a two-year term. There were four write-in votes.

In the Big Stone County Commissioner District 3 race, consisting of Big Stone Township and Otrey Township, William “Bill” Thyne received 399 votes compared to Edie Barrett with 137 votes. Incumbent Brent Olson did not file for re-election.

In the race for County Commissioner in District 4, made up of a portion of the City of Ortonville Paul Radermacher received 286 votes compared to Kelsey Stock with 169. There were two write-in votes. Incumbent Roger Sandberg did not file for re-election.

No one filed for Soil and Water Supervisor in District 2, however there were 127 write-in votes. For Soil and Water Supervisor for District 3, David Dybdahl received 2,230 votes and Ronald Reisdorph was elected Soil and Water Supervisor for District 4 with 2,185 votes.

Catherine Teske ran unopposed and was re-elected Mayor of Odessa with 49 votes. For City Council in Odessa there were three candidates on the ballot to fill two seats. Luke Diekmann received 51 votes, Deb Teske received 36 votes and Paula Bailey received 29 votes.

In Correll,  Nicholas Stock ran unopposed and received 14 votes. There were two spots open on the Correll City Council. Mitchell Stock was the only candidate on the ballot and received 12 votes. There were six write-in votes. No one ran for City Clerk, but there were  seven write-in votes. All are for four-year terms.

In Clinton, James Ringsaker was elected as Mayor with 162 votes; there were also 18 write-ins. Former Mayor Greg Basta did not file for re-election. Incumbent Steve Nelson was re-elected to the council with 154 votes and Todd Gustafson was elected to the other open council seat with 141 votes. Incumbent Lee Sigler did not file for re-election.

The Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley School District elected one new board member and two incumbents to serve four-year terms on the School Board. Kaylene Pullis, with 1,003 votes, joins the CGB School Board as its new board member. Joshua Bohlen, 975 votes, and Chance Haugen, 976 votes, were both re-elected to the CGB School Board. There were 68 write-in votes for the election. Board member Nicole Fuhrman did not file for re-election.

In the CGB School District question 1 (ISD #2888) Approval of renewal and increase to Capital Project Levy was voted down with 713 no votes and 588 yes votes.

In the CGB School District question #2 (ISD #2888) approval of new school district referendum revenue authorization was also defeated with 699 no votes and 612 yes votes.

In Graceville, Dean Jenson was re-elected as Mayor with 288 votes. There were also 17 write-ins. Chad Hoppe received re-election to the City Council with 240 votes. Michele Backer was also re-elected to the council with 220 votes. Two council members at large were elected with Francis Chalupnik being re-elected with 260 votes and Tyler Buller elected as a new council member with 240 votes.

In Beardsley, Kayla Holtz was re-elected Mayor of Beardsley with 84 votes; there were also 13 write-ins. In the City Council contest, there were four filings for two open seats. The City of Beardsley elected Ryan O’Neill with 62 votes and Jeanne Dusing with 51 votes. Devon Sanford received 50 votes and Bruce Cardwell received 23 votes. There were four write-ins.

Danika Gary was elected Mayor of Barry with eight votes. Elected to the City Council was Angeline Nosbusch with eight votes. Nelia Gary was elected Clerk with seven votes and Roger Nosbusch was elected Treasurer with eight votes.

In Johnson, all incumbents were re-elected. Mayor Donald Johnsrud re- ceived 12 votes, City Treasurer Rebecca Andrews, 12 votes. Council members Dan Andrews received 12 votes and Dustin Andrews received 11 votes.

Trump elected 47th President; Klobuchar re-elected to Senate

Americans elected a new president, as Donald Trump has been declared the winner, and will be the 47th president of the United States. He defeated Democratic challenger Kamala Harris.

Trump received 295 electoral votes to Harris’s 226. Trump also won the popular vote with 72,642,855 votes to Harris’s 67,958,303.

President-elect Trump will be sworn in at his inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025.

In Minnesota, Kamala Harris defeated Trump, receiving 50 percent of the votes to 46 percent. Harris received 1,6656,505 votes to 1,518,466 for Trump. In Big Stone County, Trump received 1,796 votes to Harris’s 964.

In the race for U.S. Senator, incumbent Democrat Amy Klobuchar defeated Republican challenger Royce White. Klobuchar received 1,791,607 votes (56 percent) and White received 1,290,810 votes (40 percent).

In the race for U.S. Representative in District 7, Republican incumbent Michelle Fischbach received 274,748 votes (70 percent) and Democratic challenger AJ (John) Peters received 114,861 votes (29 percent).

In the race for State Representative for District 12A, Republican Paul H. Anderson received 17,110 votes to Democrat Becky Parker with 6,058 votes.

Council approves revisions to special assessments

The Ortonville City Council met for their first meeting of the month on Monday, Nov. 4, with all members present.

Ben Vonada of Apex Engineering addressed the council to review the information that they provided on each property at the last council meeting in October and determine if revisions to special assessments should be made. In order to finalize the assessment process, the city should pass a resolution adopting the assessments.

Council members approved amending the following special assessments with council members Jake Dorry and Matt Karels abstaining due to their properties being on the assessment list:

• Parcel 22-0397-000 on 4th Street SE was amended and deferred due to disability as per state statue to disability deferments.

• Parcel 22-0051-000 located near Jackson Road was deferred as determined by the City Attorney due to property being a city road.

• Parcel 22-0798-000, located at 625 Stephen Avenue, was amended to take $4,500 off the cost of taking down the building on the lot and whatever the 14 feet cost of easement on that particular lot.

• Parcel 22-0388-00, located at 405 Jackson Avenue, was deferred for 10 years due to hardship.

These, along with the other assessments, will be brought back to the next council meeting by Vonada with the correct changes and to get approval from the City Council.  

On the recommendation of the Street and Utility Committee, the council approved the following:

• The equipment rental rates for 2025.

• Accepting the quote from Bituminous Paving for $19,110 to pave 2 1/2 bit mat on the ice skating rink hill. Due to spring flooding, the project will be funded through the grant monies of the Public Facilities Authority (PFA) and the remaining balance will be funded of 75 percent by Homeland Security and the remainder by the City.

• To have Apex Engineers do a sewer rate study for the city.

Council members set the date for  the canvassing board meeting for the election for Tuesday, Nov. 12 at 7:45 a.m. at City Hall.

Council members approved the airport land bid from Ryan Wittnebel. The bid was at $216.21 per tillable acre for the next three years, 2025-2027. The area of tillable land is approximately 17.3 acres. The council approved the farm lease agreement with Ryan Wittnebel on airport land. The lease will run from Jan. 1, 2025 to Nov. 15, 2027. The total rent due shall be paid in six installments.

The council approved a resolution allowing the City Clerk/Administrator or the Mayor to enter into a seven-year lease-purchase agreement-purchase   with Versatile Vehicles, Inc. for 21 2018 E-Z Go TXT gas powered golf carts with 13.5 HP with Kawasaki Motor. The trade-in value will be used for other improvements at the golf course.

Council members approved a gambling permit for the Big Stone Health Care Foundation.

The Resignation of Galen Swihart as Tree Dump Attendant was approved by the council.

During committee reports, Public Works Foreman, Scott Huizenga reported that the speed bumps at the Peninsula and Lakeside Park have been removed for the season and that the docks will be removed on Friday, Nov. 8.

The next meeting of the Ortonville City Council will be Monday, Nov. 18 at 5 p.m. in the Library Media Center.