Five of the six Ames City Council seats, including all four ward seats for the first time in 10 years, will be on the ballot this November following Ward 1 Rep. Gloria Betcher no longer residing in the ward following redistricting, prompting three council members to run for different seats than they currently serve.
At-Large Rep. Bronwyn Beatty-Hansen, Ward 2 Rep. Tim Gartin and Ward 4 Rep. Rachel Junck were already slated to be on the ballot, but there will be two additional two-year term special elections in Ward 1 and Ward 3.
Those elections will feature Beatty-Hansen running for Ward 1 instead of Betcher running for Ward 3. The active Ward 3 Rep., Anita Rollins, will run for the At-Large seat, which would be a regular four-year term.
Betcher said that after serving on the Ames City Council for ten years, it does not “feel particularly bad” to be redistricted out of Ward 1.
“It hasn’t been the same kind of shock that it might have been earlier when I was serving in that role as Ward 1 representative and I know quite a few people in Ward 3 since a number of my neighbors got redistricted,” Betcher said.
Betcher also said she had “no intention” of running against Rollins in Ward 3.
“I just told her to let me know whether she was going to run and then she came to me with the idea of running At-Large because she had run for school board At-Large a number of years ago,” Betcher said. “So she was familiar with the At-Large process and new people throughout the community and was very comfortable running At-Large.”
Rollins said that shortly after discovering the redistricting, Betcher offered not to run at all but that running against each other was “never the conversation.”
“As we were thinking about the Council on what our options could be and then talking with Bronwyn as well, it did seem that it was an opportunity then that I could then run At-Large, [and] Bronwyn and Gloria could then also be part of that mix for running as sort of an odd year term,” Rollins said.
Betcher said Beatty-Hansen was redistricted into Ward 1 and was comfortable running for the seat, so it was a “win-win-win” situation for the three of them.
“In my mind, I was thinking Ward 1 would be a good step for me to make, to open up the At-Large for anyone who might want to run for it,” Beatty-Hansen said. “Gloria didn’t want to be in a position where she’d be running against Anita, and so it’s something I’d thought about anyway, but I think it allows someone else to run for that At-Large position.”
Beatty-Hansen, Betcher and Rollins all said that while they may change constituencies, they have already been listening to concerns across Ames and will continue to do so if elected.
“When we’re talking about climate change or when we’re thinking about accessory dwelling units or whatever those topics are, those may impact particular wards more than others,” Rollins said. “But at the same time, I am thinking that it will still be many of the same conversations.”
Rollins also said that the entire Council takes input from the community seriously “no matter which ward they are representing,” and she expected that to continue.
Both Beatty-Hansen and Betcher said they have not made a final decision about whether to run for a full four-year term in 2025 if they are elected to the new seat in November.
“We have the opportunity to reconsider in two years and see how we feel about remaining on [the] Council,” Betcher said. “I think all of us enjoy it. It makes us feel like we’re doing something good for the community. Life can intervene […] you don’t know what’s going to happen in two years.”
