TOWER- City residents turned out in high numbers for Tuesday’s election, choosing four new city council members while rejecting former Tower Ambulance director Steve Altenburg’s third attempt for a council seat.
For the two open four-year city council positions, David Setterberg and Kevin Norby were the top vote getters, with 152 and 150 votes, respectively. Three-time candidate Steve Altenburg came in a distant third with 79 votes. There were six write-in votes cast in the race.
The race for the two open two-year seats was closer. Newcomer Joe Morin easily topped the field with 171. Incumbent Sheldon Majerle edged out newcomer Josh Zika by a single vote, 111-110.
The city of Tower saw higher than usual voter turnout (at least 83 percent) in Tuesday’s election, with 61 absentee ballots accepted and 201 in-person voters. The city had 282 registered voters as of 7 a.m. on election day. There were an additional two votes cast at St. Louis County courthouses. Election officials erroneously allowed two voters from outside the city limits to cast ballots, which could only have had an impact on the two-year position.
The city saw 35 new voters register on election day, including several teenage first-time voters. The city had four open seats on the ballot, with every seat, except the mayor, up for election following a rash of resignations in the past year and a half.
Four-year seats
Setterberg has taken the lead on several of the major issues facing the city since he was appointed to a seat earlier this year. He told the Timberjay his top priority for the next four years is continuing to fix the city budget. “We need to make sure we’re getting the most value for our dollars,” he said. Everything is on the table, he said, as the council looks for ways to keep spending in line with actual needs.
Setterberg said he’s been pleased with the city’s progress on finances during his nine months on the council.
“We have been working down our list of audit points and hope to have many of them off the list for next year,” he said. The city’s auditors had noted 18 separate management concerns during the 2018 audit. That was reduced to 12 in last year’s audit, and the council is working to eliminate most, if not all, of those points in the 2020 audit.
Setterberg has also taken the lead in examining how to rework the city’s emergency services to operate more efficiently.
Norby told the Timberjay his top priority for a first term is simple: “Learn fast, contribute, and watch spending.” He also advocates positioning Tower to take advantage of the greater interest in moving out of major cities.
“I think the city should focus on sustainable projects that increase livability,” Norby said. “There is a land boom across the state now because of COVID where people are moving to smaller towns, lake homes, and out of the suburbs and cities.” 
Altenburg ran with the slogan to “Take Back Tower,” voicing criticism of the current council, mayor, and city clerk while writing as an “independent journalist” for the Tower News. But most of the problems he cited, specifically regarding city finances, dated back to the previous city administration and city clerk, not to the current administration, which has been working to set the city onto more stable financial footing.
Two-year seats
Joe Morin is a newcomer to city government, although he has been serving this year on the city’s planning and zoning commission and working on a subcommittee that is updating the city’s zoning ordinances. Morin will take the seat currently occupied by Mary Shedd, who opted not to seek election.
With only one vote separating Majerle and Zika, Zika would have the option of requesting a recount. Zika told the Timberjay on Wednesday morning he wasn’t planning to ask for a recount.
“I threw my name in the hat to give people another option,” he said. He said the one-vote margin made the loss easier.
“If I was going to lose,” he said, “that’s the way to do it.”
Two years ago, Rachel Beldo beat Mary Shedd by a single vote, and Shedd did not request a recount. Shedd was later appointed to an open seat on the council. Beldo resigned from the council earlier this year due to work commitments.
Majerle was appointed to the council in 2019 to fill a seat left vacant after the resignation of Brooke Anderson. Majerle has been a longtime face on the council, first elected in the early 1990s. He had served four terms and retired, but he decided to go back on the council last year to fill the open seat.
Currently he serves as the chair of the Tower-Breitung Wastewater Board, the city’s charter commission, and the Gundersen Trust board. He is also a member of the Tower Economic Development Authority and the Tower Airport Commission.
There is still a possibility that late-arriving absentee ballots could alter the results. The fate of late-arriving ballots, if any, are still uncertain due to ongoing litigation.
The newly-elected council members will be sworn in once the city formally canvasses the votes next week.
Winners normally are seated at the first meeting in January, but since all are filling non-elected councilor seats, they will be seated immediately.

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