The school board of Independent School District 739 held its canvassing meeting last Thursday, Nov. 6. At the meeting, the school board accepted the count of votes for new members. New members voted into office for the four-year term were Dorothy Kersten, Jerome Kuechle and Matthew Serbus. Marguerite Laabs was elected to the two-year term. She ran against Tim Peglow for this position. School board elections were from 2-8 p.m. last Tuesday, Nov. 4. During the vote, 219 people cast ballots in the Kimball precinct, whereas 10 voted in St. Augusta. There was one absentee ballot in Kimball. Voters had the choice of three candidates for three four-year terms and two candidates for one two-year term. Election judge Jane Pickle said that the higher turnout was attributed to two candidates in the latter race. Pickle said that there are 2,500 registered voters in Stearns County and about 500 in Meeker County. In the past, school board elections have turned out as little as 60-80 people or as many as 700-800 during the levy vote. “It (turnout) really depends on what is on the ballot.” Besides the members elected to the school board, several write-in candidates received votes. The following individuals were written in for four-year positions: Kim Spaulding, 15; Tom Schreiner, 11; Kurt Helgeson, 2; Jon Albert, 1; Richard Eckman, 1; Tom Ehlinger, 1; Gerald Gillman, 1; Lonnie Hendricks, 1; Bill Liedman, 1; Dennis Loewen, 1; Sue Maus, 1; Pat Robb, 1; Theresa Saukkola, 1; Dave Traurig, 1; Jim Unterberger, 1; Jim Young, 1. Write-in candidates for the two-year term were Kim Spaulding, 3; Kurt Helgeson, 1; and Tom Schreiner, 1. Dorothy Kersten, Jerome Kuechle and Matthew Serbus received 142, 177 and 151 votes , respectively in Kimball precinct and eight, nine and six votes from St. Augusta voters. Marguerite Laabs received 112-92 votes over Tim Peglow in Kimball and 6-4 in St. Augusta. New board members begin their term Monday, Jan. 5, 2004. Kersten, Kuchle and Serbus’ terms will expire Jan. 1, 2008, while Laabs’ term will extend through Jan. 1, 2006. Current board member Gerald Gillman’s term will expire Jan. 1, 2004.
