GRANDVIEW, Iowa — In Louisa County, many city candidates were running unopposed in Tuesday’s Municipal Election.

But the situation was different in Grandview, where no one was running for mayor, and in Morning Sun, where an uncle competed against his nephew for the mayoral seat.

“I’ve been mayor for 10 years and no one has run the past three elections,” said Grandview Mayor Charles Sorrowfree, who accepted the position the past three elections when his name was written in on the ballot.

Sorrowfree, 45, said he’s undecided on whether to take the position again and wants to find out if anyone else was written in. Unofficial results show that 16 write-in votes were cast for mayor and Sorrowfree received the most (if not all) of them. The Grandview clerk hadn’t submitted the voter forms to the Louisa County Auditor by press deadline today.

“I’ve enjoyed my time and learned a lot,” he said, pointing out that he’s never served because of the money. The mayor is paid $60 a month if he goes to the Council meetings.

“I hope there’s an individual that wants to do it or can do it, said Sorrowfree. “I’d like to see them try it. I’d probably be willing to if there isn’t. I won’t leave the town hanging.”

Sorrowfree has lived in Grandview since 1996 and said he’s not sure why no one has expressed interest in running for mayor. Of the 238 households in the city about 80 people have voted in the past, he said.

He ran for mayor his first two terms and, though he hopes someone else will take the wheel, he still takes the job seriously.

“I think that in small towns everybody happens to know each other and they don’t hesitate to call anytime day or night,” Sorrowfree said. “I always return the phone calls.”

Morning Sun

Tom Bryant, 61, has lived in Morning Sun all of his live and has served three terms as mayor, at different times over a period of about 25 years.

Tuesday night he won the mayoral seat as the incumbent against his uncle, Floyd “Peck” Dean, 85, by an unofficial vote of 133 to 79.

According to Dean, he and Bryant don’t see eye-to-eye, and that is the main reason he ran for mayor.

“He has a violent temper and he is obnoxious,” said Dean, who served two terms as mayor himself in the 1980s. “He can’t get along with people.”

Bryant dismissed his uncle’s accusations and attributed them to a disagreement the two had over the need to reprimand the city clerk.

As for his goals as mayor, he said, “I want to finish up the water main project. We have five years left (on the plan) but I’d like to try to see it get finished up next summer,” Bryant said.

Other goals include dealing with ordinances that require people to clean up their properties and get rid of junk cars.

“You’ve got to look ahead instead of look back,” Bryant said.