Controversy and Competition Over An At Large Position on Fort Dodge City Council

An appointment to a city council doesn’t always gain a large crowd, but last night’s Fort Dodge city council meeting was different

The Fort Dodge city council was packed Monday night as Andy Fritz was appointed to the seat left empty following Neven Conrad’s departure this month.

 Previous to the meeting, a letter had gone viral on Facebook targeting  Fritz’s personal belief system as one that was not Christian in religious nature.

Concern was voiced by many at the meeting in regards to that.

The appointment by the council was one that was required by code, but it is one that many in attendance said they would not let stand, including former candidate for Fort Dodge City Council At Large Richard Higgins.

There were five candidates running for two at large seats on the Forty Dodge city council in the fall of 2021, two of them currently sit on the council while three others were runners up for the positions.

One of them, was Higgins who said that appointment of Fritz was not a fair process for adding a city council member and he will not let it stand without a fight:

“When I left the council meeting last night they were all standing outside and they said Richard get your petition we want to sign it.,” Higgins said.

He said that the people who ran in the last general election should have been contacted to see if they were interested, he says that he was not contacted by anyone and neither was another candidate.

 Higgins said he is getting signatures signed in order to have a regular election that he says he and Newsome are planning to be a part of.

“Eugene is going to run again and I will run and now if they get somebody else in there it’s going to be a primary,” Higgins says.

Higgins said he has two weeks to secure around 250 signatures and if submitted on time, an election will be held in February or March.

Higgins said the cost for an election is $20,000 and if there is a primary, it will cost another $20,000.