WILLMAR — The Willmar City Council will have a different look come January as three new council members will represent three of the four wards.
All results are preliminary as of Tuesday night, with Minnesota still planning to count absentee and mail ballots that arrive by Nov. 10 in the mail as long as those ballots were postmarked by Nov. 3.
Based on the votes that had been counted as of Tuesday night, Michel O'Brien has a solid lead for the seat in Ward 1, bringing in 61.26 percent of the vote versus the 38.36 percent in Les Heitke's column. Ward 1 covers the northern quarter of Willmar.
Julie Asmus, the incumbent in Ward 2, ran unopposed and will return to the council. Ward 2 is in southwest Willmar.
In Ward 3, Justin Ask leads Zeke Dahl, 51.6 percent to 47.34 percent. Ward 3 runs along the U.S. Highway 12 corridor from approximately state Highway 23 to 11th Street Southwest and includes the downtown Central Business District.
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Tom Butterfield looks to have defeated Hans Hibma in Ward 4. Preliminary results show Tom Butterfield with 73.56 percent of the vote. Ward 4 covers the southeastern quarter of Willmar.
