Four Ames residents have announced they will run for Ames City Council, including two incumbents, a local businessman and an Iowa State graduate student.

Three seats are on the ballot for the Nov. 2 election: at large, Ward 2 and Ward 4.

Judie Hoffman, 3820 Quebec St., is running for her fourth term on city council. If re-elected, she will remain an at-large council member.

Hoffman currently is a lobbyist for five nonprofit groups at the state capitol.

She is involved with the League of Women Voters and both the Story County and City of Ames planning and zoning commissions.

“As [Ames] continues to grow, we must think about an expanded infrastructure, including things like fire departments and recreational and transportational facilities,” Hoffman said. “It’s important that we have controlled growth and not sprawl.”

Starlene Rankin, graduate student in journalism and mass communication from Ames, is running against Hoffman for the at-large position. She serves on the board of directors of the Ames Community Arts Council and is chairwoman of its newsletter.

She is a member of the Ames Neighborhood Coalition and on the Ginkgo Festival board.

Rankin also does national volunteer work with the Green Party and is coordinator for the Ames/ISU Greens.

Rankin said she is concerned with “quality of life issues.”

“The issue of a strong, healthy and close community is important,” she said.

Like Hoffman, Rankin wants to avoid suburban sprawl. She advocates new housing communities be built with “village development” in mind. This would include bike paths, green space and mixtures of people and services.

Current Ward 2 representative John Parks will retire after his term is complete, and Steve Goodhue, 3133 Maplewood Road, is seeking election in that seat.

Goodhue is vice president of public relations with VisionAire, a St. Louis-based company that will manufacture single engine planes in Ames. He has served as chairman of the Ames zoning board of adjustment for two years.

He also is on the boards of the Ames Chamber of Commerce, the Ames Education Foundation, the Octagon Center for the Arts, the Ames Foundation, Des Moines Area Community College, Iowa Central Community College in Fort Dodge and First United Methodist Church of Ames. He also is a member of the Ames Rotary Club.

The No. 1 challenge facing Ames is managing the dynamic growth it has experienced recently, Goodhue said.

“[I want to] help maintain the viability that has enabled this community to consistently be recognized as one of the best small cities in the country,” he said. “I tend to view my role as one in which I’d serve the entire community, not just the Second Ward.”

Incumbent Herman Quirmbach, 1002 Jarrett Circle, is running for his second term as the Ward 4 representative.

Quirmbach is an associate professor of economics at ISU. He is involved with the American Civil Liberties Union as both a member and on the state board of directors. He also is the faculty adviser to the campus ACLU chapter.

Other memberships include the Ames Kiwanis Club and the Ames Chamber of Commerce, and he has spent two years on the Ames Convention and Visitors Bureau.

He has served on the Utility Retirement Board and was appointed by Mayor Ted Tedesco to the Resource Enhancement and Protection (REAP) committee.

Growth in the Ames community could be managed with the “umbrella theme,” Quirmbach said.

“That umbrella covers maintaining the quality of life, providing services and the challenge of paying for it all,” he said.

The voter registration deadline is Oct. 18 at 5 p.m. Registration forms can be obtained in the City Clerk’s office in Ames City Hall at 515 Clark Avenue or at the County Auditor’s office in the courthouse in Nevada.