Council Bluffs, Carter Lake to hold primaries

A primary will be needed in this year’s city elections in both Council Bluffs and Carter Lake.

The primary will be held Oct. 6 in both communities.

A primary is needed to narrow the field of candidates in Council Bluffs for the mayor’s race and for two City Council seats. The Carter Lake primary will involve that city’s mayor’s race.

In Council Bluffs, three people filed papers to run for mayor by last week’s deadline. They are incumber Mayor Tom Hanafan, who is seeking his seventh term, Matt Hartfield and Helen Sullivan.

Seven people filed papers to run for the two City Council seats up for election. Candidates are Darren Bates and Scott Belt, both incumbents, as well as Ed Clark, Melissa Head, Jay Kathol, Jim Nelson and Scott Porter.

Bates was arrested in a prostitution sting at a Bluffs motel in February, but a jury found him not guilty in May. The arrest, however, cost him his positions with the Omaha Fire Department and the firefighters union. He is contesting his dismissal from the department.

Three people filed papers for the Carter Lake mayor’s position. They are incumbent Russ Kramer as well as Gerald Waltrip and Fritz Dahlheimer.

The top four vote-getters in the Council Bluffs’ City Council race will move on to the general election Nov. 3.

To file papers seeking office, the Carter Lake mayoral candidates needed to collect at least 19 signatures from eligible voters in that community, while all of the Council Bluffs candidates for mayor and City Council needed to collect at least 100 signatures, according to the Pottawattamie County Auditor’s Office.

Hours for the Oct. 6 primary voting will be from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.