Candidate filing opened Friday for the 2025 City of Nome municipal, utility and school board elections. The general election will be held on Oct. 7.
Seven seats are available this election cycle, including the coveted mayor title. John Handeland has held the position since returning to the role in 2020. He also served as mayor from 1985 to 2000. Handeland confirmed to KNOM that he intends to run for reelection.
One potential challenger to Handeland is Rexodus Pomrenke, who announced her intention to run for mayor at a Nome Common Council meeting on July 14. She has called for reforms for the Nome Police Department at numerous council meetings over the past year.
At the July 14 meeting, Pomrenke distributed copies of the Declaration of Independence and said she hoped to “in some way more familiarize myself with not only the city of Nome, which has become my home over the last five years, but also the people and residents of this town.”
Pomrenke ran for a council seat held by Scot Henderson last year, but was deemed ineligible to hold office due to not being registered to vote. According to the Division of Elections, she is now a registered voter.
The two council seats up for election are currently held by Cameron Piscoya and Mark Johnson. Neither immediately responded to requests to confirm their intention to run for reelection. Each seat is for a three-year term.
There are also two seats up for reelection on both the Nome Utility Board and Nome School Board.
Voters will also consider Proposition 1, a measure to raise the City of Nome’s sales tax rate from 5% to 6%. The proposition was greenlit by the Nome Common Council in June as part of its budget deliberations. If approved, the city expects it would raise an additional $800,000 in revenue in its first year.
The city funded $2.4 million of its fiscal year 2025 budget through appropriations, essentially taking funds from its savings account to balance the budget. Through an aggressive reduction in expenses, the city expects to slow the bleeding to just $230,543 in appropriation funding for the upcoming fiscal year.
If approved, the sales tax increase would begin on Jan. 1, 2026.
Prospective candidates must file completed paperwork by 5 p.m. on Sept. 2 at Nome City Hall. Forms and filing information are available at City Hall. For more details, call the City Clerk’s office at 443-6663.
