What to expect in 2019
Monroe County is in store for a busy 2019.
In addition to any unexpected developments, residents have local elections, new businesses and updates in high-profile cases to look forward to.
• Municipal elections take place April 2, with only three towns in the county seeing contested races.
In Waterloo, all races will be unopposed save for the Waterloo Park District Board. Stephen Mitchell, Michael Nolte and Gina Pfund are vying for one seat that will be a two-year term.
Columbia will see three of four city council spots up for election and nine candidates running for four school board spots.
The race to represent Ward I will be between Steve Reis and Jay Riddle. Ward II Alderman Kevin Martens will run against Harold R. McCarty Jr. Finally, Steve Holtkamp and challenger Patrick McDermott will run for a seat representing Ward IV.
For the Columbia Board of Education, incumbents Scott Middelkamp, Tammy Hines and Ted Schrader are running for re-election. New contenders are Jeremy Donald, Tyson Search, Cress Morr, Phillip Taylor, Lisa Schumacher and Greg Meyer.
The only other contested races will be in Hecker, where four candidates are running for three village trustee spots. Deanna Louveau, Richard W. Happel, Douglas Van Buren and Trisha Maddox are vying for seats on the village board.
• Also in the political realm, Democrat J.B. Pritzker is set to take office as Illinois governor later this month. Pritzker, who defeated incumbent Bruce Rauner in November, ran on a platform that included creating a public health insurance option designed to allow every Illinois resident the chance to buy low-cost health insurance, raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, legalizing marijuana and changing the way the state collects income taxes by switching to a graduated income tax system…>>>
Read the rest of the story in the January 2, 2019, newspaper.
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