By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
St. Joseph voters will choose three at-large city council members from a field of six on the ballot Tuesday.
Candidate Randy Schultz won a seat outright in the February 8th primary.
Business owner Kenton Randolph just missed winning a seat outright in the primary and has been knocking on a lot of doors since.
“And I have talked to a lot of people during my campaign and the top two problems that I’m hearing in St. Joseph are our crime is out of control and our schools are failing,” Randolph tells host Barry Birr on the KFEQ Hotline.
District 2 council member Marty Novak is running for an at-large seat and is proud of the work of the city council the past four years replacing bridges, improving parks, among other things.
“The council really kind of hit the road running,” Novak says on the Hotline. “There is still so much work to do. Nothing can be fixed overnight, but I think that we’ve worked very hard.”
Business owner Jeff Schomberg says the city needs leadership.
“We’re kind of in neutral right now and we need to put it in drive and get this community back to where it needs to be,” Schomberg tells Birr when asked on the Hotline why he decided to run. “So, that was my big driving force to step up.”
Incumbent council member Kent “Spanky” O’Dell, running for his third term, admits to being bitter that he won just enough votes in the February primary to advance to the General Election.
“Yeah, I’m bitter,” O’Dell tells Birr during his Hotline visit. “I thought that I was making a difference. I sure didn’t get it out of the primary, buddy. I took a hit.”
Another incumbent, Brenda Blessing, says the city council has done a lot in the four years she has been on the council.
“Excited about finding out that we’re possibly going to get the hotel back downtown,” Blessing says during her time on the Hotline. “I think that will be great for the (St. Joseph Convention and) Visitors Center.”
But St. Joseph School Board member Kenneth Reeder who is running for a seat on the city council insists that proposed renovation of the old Red Lion Inn is nothing to brag about.
“And the last day they’re in office, they’re going to do this $27 million boondoggle to fix up a hotel that should be blown up in a beer commercial,” according to Reeder.
The six candidates are on the April 5th ballot.