HOT SPRINGS – There will be an election in Hot Springs on Tuesday, June 3, but it will be held to determine only a pair of races – one seat on the City Council and two seats on the School Board.
There were a total of five seats each being vacated on both the Hot Springs City Council and the Hot Springs Board of Education but most will be filled automatically due to a lack of candidates to have a contested race.
For City Council, three people from Ward 1 submitted petitions to fill the seat that is currently being occupied by Hall Glanville, who defeated then-incumbent Craig Romey in 2023 by a margin of 62 to 55. Glanville will be running for re-election and was face-off in a three-way against Romey again, as well as newcomer Randy Graham.
For the other four seats that are being vacated on the City Council, three of them will be filled by incumbents who do not have any challengers. Linda Varvel will retain her seat in Ward 3 for two more years, as will Debra Johnston in Ward 4. Fellow Ward 4 incumbent Gary Telkamp will serve for just one more year as he completes his near-two-year assignment on the city council after being appointed to the seat when no one ran to fill it in last year’s 2024 election.
No one submitted a petition for the Ward 2 seat being vacated by Travis Orback, who ran unopposed in the 2023 election. He chose to not run for reelection this year, so the council is planning to appoint someone to fill that seat beginning in July.
The Hot Springs School Board’s five positions being vacated included two 3-year terms, two 2-year terms and one 1-year term. Three candidates are running for the two 3-year seats including current school district parent Shannon McClure, former school board member Sharon Romey and former school SpEd Director Kelly Bilbrey. The top-two vote getters in the race will each earn a seat.
For the other three vacancies, incumbents Brian Jarding and Ryan Walz will each earn one of the two 2-year term seats after being the only two who submitted petitions. Jarding has served on the school board for three years, after being elected in 2022. Walz has now served nearly six years total on the school board. He was up for reelection last year in 2024 but chose not to run. He however was then later appointed to serve a one year term due to the vacancy of another seat.
Also staying on the school board for one more year is Jason Mazzocchio who was appointed in August 2024 to fill a vacant seat. He was the lone petitioner for the lone one-year seat that needed filled this year.
Leaving the school board after the June 2025 meeting will be current Board President Bob Preuss, who chose not to seek reelection after serving six years on the board, and Colleen Venner, who also chose not to run again after being appointed to the post late last year.
In Oelrichs, there will not be an election as it was only the incumbents who chose to submit petitions to remain on the Town Board and School Board.
For Oelrichs School Board, both Katie Merdanian and Marty Schommer will remain in their seats for another three years. For Oelrichs Town Board, all three of the current members filed petitions and will remain on the board: James Willmus, Vince Logue and Bill O’Connell.