By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
The St. Joseph City Council will have six new members on it after April 18, while two current councilmembers were reelected to another four-year term this week.
Jeff Schomburg has co-owned Kruze's Auto Repair in St. Joseph since 2009, and won one of the four at-large seats out of a field of originally nine candidates.
Schomburg said he felt a change in leadership was needed in city hall, prompting him to make a run. Now that he's been elected, he wants to be a voice for all St. Joseph residents.
"I'm just here to serve the people and whatever the majority of the people want," Schomburg said. "That's what I'm going to push for. I don't really have any narratives or anything."
Another at-large winner was Marty Novak, who had served the last four years representing the city's second district. Despite that change, Novak says his vision and intentions for St. Joseph won't change.
"I was pretty active throughout the city," Novak said of his first term. "I felt like it was the right time and the right thing to do to run at-large. I want to put focus on getting rid of a lot of blight, cleaning St. Joseph up. Public safety is always paramount."
Kenton Randolph was also elected to an at-large seat Tuesday, though he couldn't be reached for comment.
Another at-large seat was won outright in the February primary by Randy Schultz - project manager for The Waldinger Corporation and current member of the IBC Board of Appeals with the city.
Schultz expresses confidence in the others who have been elected, as well as new mayor-elect John Josendale.
"I think John is going pull the sled in the same direction and we're going to pull the same way," Schultz said. "I think everyone is excited to get started."
Taylor Crouse won the second district city council seat in the February primary. Andrew Trout ran unopposed for the third district city council seat.
Madison Davis was re-elected to the city council's first district, defeating Patricia Jones 57.32% (936) to 42.25% (690).
Taylor Crouse won the second district city council seat in the February primary, while Andrew Trout ran unopposed in the third district.
Michael Grimm defeated incumbent Russell Moore in for the fourth district seat, 56.76% (962) to 42.83% (726).
The new councilmembers, new mayor and new municipal judge will all be sworn in on April 18 at noon at city hall.
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