BROOKINGS – Brookings has a new mayor after all the votes were tallied Tuesday night, and the two incumbents held their council seats.
Keith Corbett was elected mayor, replacing Scott Munsterman, who stepped in as interim mayor for three months after Tim Reed was elected to the House of Representatives in District 7 last fall. Reed had to resign as mayor of Brookings because he could not legally hold two elected offices. Reed’s term had one year left, so Corbett has been elected for one year.
Corbett won the mayor’s seat with 1,280 votes, outpacing fellow councilor Patty Bacon, who got 829, and Don Diamond, who got 145.
“Pretty excited, pretty happy,” Corbett said of his win.
“I want to thank Don and Patty for running. You put yourself out there when you do that. ... We kept it clean. We talked about issues. ... That’s why I’m so proud to live in this community and be a part of it,” Corbett said.
“We’ll start planning and moving forward. The city always runs because we’ve got a great staff down at city hall. The council will continue to work on policy. Great days ahead as we’ve had great days already,” he added.
Elected to three-year seats on the Brookings City Council were incumbents Dan Hansen and Ope Niemeyer.
Hansen got 1,553 votes and Niemeyer received 1,408, followed by Nick Schmeichel, who collected 782, and Isaiah Croatt, who got 200.
“I’m just excited that voters gave me a chance to continue to serve on council and hopefully see through some of the things we’ve been talking about here,” Hansen said.
“I just want to thank everybody for their support and the confidence in me going forward,” he added. “I just want to congratulate Nick, and Isaiah and Ope on a great race.”
“I feel good about it,” Niemeyer said of winning. “I think that I’ve done a pretty decent job for the past six years, and I look forward to serving for another three.”
Niemeyer plans to roll up his sleeves and focus on the process by which the city disposes of land, and what the Mental Health Task Force, the Affordable Housing Task Force, and the Strategic Planning Commission are doing, as well as hammer out the Bicycle Master Plan.
Niemeyer also had his eye on the Brookings School Board race.
“I have to congratulate Jennifer (Lacher-Starace) also on her win and hopefully that we can work with the county commission, school board and the council itself,” he said.
The top vote-getters will take office on May 1, according to the city’s website.
With Corbett taking the mayor’s seat, the council seat he currently holds will be open.
“If there is a council vacancy as a result of either sitting council member being elected mayor, the six-person mayor/council will appoint an interim council member to occupy the seat until the April 2018 election,” City Manager Jeff Weldon said. “(Corbett’s) seat does not expire until the April 2019 election, so the appointment to fill Keith’s seat would also expire with the April 2018 election, whereby an election would be held for one year, until April 2019, to preserve the rotation.”
Contact Jodelle Greiner at jgreiner@brookingsregister.com.
