Four Urbandale Men Run for Three Council Seats

Four men are running for three open seats on the Urbandale City Council.

They are:

• Mike Carver, who is seeking his second term on the council. Carver is vice president of Ruhl & Ruhl commercial real estate company. He is a past president of the Urbandale Chamber of Commerce and the Urbandale Development Association. He was Urbandale Citizen of the Year in 1980.
• Creighton Cox, who is seeking his first term on the council. He is executive officer for the Home Builders Association of Greater Des Moines. He serves on the Polk County Housing Trust Fund Board, is a graduate of Leadership Urbandale, and was one of  the young professional on the Des Moines Business Record's 2010 "40 under 40" list.
• Tom Gayman, who is seeking his second term. He also is a past president of the Urbandale chamber and past chairman of the chamber's first-ever Total Resource Campaign. He's lived in Urbandale for 25 years and has three children who graduated from Urbandale High School.
• Tony Montgomery, who is seeking his first term. A former city planner for Des Moines, he now is vice president of customer service for Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. He is vice president of the Urbandale Community Action Network (UCAN) Board of Directors, co-chair of the UCAN Strengthening Neighborhoods Committee; and board member for HOME, Inc. and the Dallas County Housing Trust Fund.

Incumbent Mary Polson is not running for re-election after two four-year terms. Urbandale does not have a ward system for electing city council members so the top three vote-getters will be elected.

The election is Nov. 8.  Two candidate forums are scheduled so far and they are both on Oct. 19:

• The Urbandale Chamber of Commerce candidate forum is at its monthly membership lunch meeting from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Stoney Creek Inn in Johnston. The luncheon is open to the public, but you must register in advance and the price is $25.
• The Downtown Urbandale Neighborhood Association will sponsor a forum at its monthly meeting at 6 p.m. at the America Legion Hall, 6805 Douglas Ave., that evening. The public is welcome and there is no charge.