By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
Two candidates are guaranteed a spot on the St. Joseph City Council after receiving a majority of votes in Tuesday’s primary election.
Randy Schultz won at at-large seat on the council. Schultz says it was a little bit of a shock to find out he had won.
"Cause I mean, there was nine really good candidates out there, which we were lucky to have nine people that stood up and wanted to run and the incumbents wanted to run again too," Schultz tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post.
Schultz received 4,054 votes in the primary election out of the 7,863 votes cast. Six other at-large candidates advance to the April 5th city General Election, vying for three seats.
Schultz believes his construction background set him apart from other candidates.
"There's a lot of infrastructure that is going to be coming up due to the current climate and if we want our city to grow, our infrastructure has to grow," Schultz says. "And I believe that's one asset that I bring that I can examine the bids or see what kind of work that needs to be done."
Schultz says one of his biggest goals is to make sure city funds are spent correctly.
"We don't want to chase the wrong dollars, we want to get the right dollars, and when I say that I mean make sure the projects that come into town and businesses are a good fit for St. Joseph, Missouri and not just that quick buck," Schultz explains.
Insurance salesman Taylor Crouse won the Second District council seat and says through his campaign, he was very determined to do the job right.
"My mom always told me if a job is worth doing it's worth doing right," Crouse says. "I was determined to not be outworked in the campaign, and I think the results bear the fruit of that."
Crouse won his seat receiving 964 votes, far more than the other three on the ballot.
Crouse says while on the campaign trail he met with over 13-hundred St. Joseph residents.
"You know I asked people what issues concern you most, I discussed the issues with the people, and I had a lot of people tell me that no one had ever bothered to do that before in a city election," Crouse explains.
Crouse says one of his top goals now that he is on the council is to focus on making sure Jefferson City knows that St. Joseph wants Interstate 229 to remain an interstate.
Crouse says another one of his goals revolves around funds received from the American Rescue Plan.
"I want to make sure that the ARPA funds are used for how congress intended them to be used," Crouse says. "I want to make sure that they go to businesses and organizations that legitimately suffered harm from COVID-19."