By Matt Sepic, KWMU
St. Louis – Turnout was generally low for St. Louis area municipal elections on Tuesday; it was just over 11 percent in St. Louis County.
But in Kirkwood, enough people came out to choose Councilman Art McDonnell as the city's new mayor. His election comes two months after a gunman killed five people at City Hall. City Councilwoman Connie Karr was among those who died, leaving McDonnell as the only name on the ballot. He beat three write-in candidates with 75 percent of the vote. Mayor Mike Swoboda, who's recovering from gunshot wounds, could not run for re-election because of term limits.
A man with a similar name won the mayor's race in nearby Sunset Hills. Alderman Mike Svoboda beat incumbent John Hunzeker by a wide margin.
Richmond Heights Mayor Betty Humphrey lost her re-election bid, as did Wildwood mayor Ed Marshall.
In Valley Park's mayoral race, businessman Grant Young beat incumbent Jeffery Whitteaker 63 to 37 percent. Whitteaker's loss comes on the heels of a lawsuit against the city from the mayor's former secretary, who claims she was fired for having an affair with him.
In north St. Louis County, Berkeley Mayor Kyra Watson won re-election. Cool Valley voters elected Viola Murphy in a three-way race for mayor.
Residents of the tiny South St. Louis County municipality of St. George chose to keep Heather Hediger as their mayor. She took over as acting mayor last year after Harold Goodman was arrested on drug and child pornography charges.
In Wentzville, Mayor Paul Lambi won a third term. And voters approved creating charter commissions in O'Fallon, Missouri and Franklin County. For Franklin County, that's the first step toward overhauling the structure of county government. In O'Fallon, a charter would give local officials more power.
School board races and bond proposals were also on the ballot Tuesday. Bond issues in the Hancock Place, Normandy and Rockwood school districts all passed by wide margins.