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Contested Tracy, Russell races among Lyon Co. mayoral races

The races on the ballot in Lyon County on Nov. 6 include a lot of city council and township board elections, but some area communities will also be casting votes for mayor. This year, two mayoral races in Lyon County are contested: there are two candidates running for mayor in both Tracy and Russell.

In Tracy, current city council member Tony Peterson and resident Anthony Dimmers are running for mayor. Peterson has had several years of past experience on the council. He was first elected in 2007, served as Tracy mayor from 2012-2016, and then ran for council again in 2016.

Peterson was also the subject of a special recall referendum in February. A citizen petition asked that Peterson be recalled from the city council over allegations that he had overstepped his authority on a number of occasions and bullied city employees to the point that a former city administrator resigned abruptly. However, more than 54 percent of voters participating in the recall election said Peterson should keep his council seat.

Peterson is running for mayor of Tracy because “people asked me to,” he said.

Dimmers is a relative newcomer to Tracy — he moved there from Slayton and bought a home in January. Before that, he spent more than 23 years in the military, and worked as a truck driver. Dimmers said he plans on putting down roots in Tracy, and wanted to be part of the community. He’s also active on the Tracy planning and zoning committee.

Tracy is currently going through a lot of infrastructure updates, he said, and that provides the city with an opportunity for future planning.

“We need to talk to folks in town,” Dimmers said. “Where do they see Tracy going?”

Dimmers said he knew wanted to be a good listener, and work to help bring more of a sense of teamwork and local pride to the community.

“I felt that Tracy was missing a sense of community,” he said. “If we can foster a sense of community . . . we can begin to move forward together.”

“I have no agenda,” Dimmers said of running for mayor. “I’m just trying to make Tracy a better place to live.”

In Russell, residents Roger Hook and Joel Van Damme are running for mayor.

“We need to keep going forward,” Hook said. There are a couple of major areas where he said the city needed to keep moving ahead, and that he wanted to help support. One was work to update Russell’s water lines and infrastructure. Two years ago, Russell had filed for a state grant to help with infrastructure work, and that process needed to keep going, Hook said.

Hook said the city of Russell was also working on revamping its town café. The process is taking time, but should still keep going, he said.

“We have a close community,” Hook said of Russell. People have taken interest in the mayor’s race, he said.

Van Damme declined to comment on his campaign for Russell mayor.

Other mayoral races in Lyon County aren’t contested. In Balaton, Lonnie Lambertus Sr. is running unopposed for mayor. In Cottonwood, Corey Moseng is running unopposed for mayor. In Florence, Jerry Hachmann is running for mayor. Minneota Mayor John Rolbiecki, Taunton Mayor Mike Breyfogle, Garvin Mayor Jim Julien and Ghent Mayor Ronald Sussner are all running unopposed for re-election.

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