Baltic voters reject mayoral recall effort

Deborah McIsaac to remain mayor in northern Minnehaha County town

BALTIC — The embattled mayor of a northern Minnehaha County suburb has escaped a recall effort that would have removed her from office. 

Voters in Baltic Tuesday favored first-term Mayor Deborah McIsaac over challenger Jamie Ingemansen, the alternative candidate in the recall election spurred by a feud between McIsaac’s administration and an area developer.

McIsaac edged Ingemansen by roughly 75 votes in the election that saw nearly half the town of 1,200 turnout. 

McIsaac became the target of recall efforts in April when Ingemansen formed a political action committee called South Dakotans for Transparent Government, which alleged the first-term mayor and her allies on the Baltic City Council were unjustly blocking economic development in the growing bedroom community and playing favorites when awarding city contracts.

But the mayor countered early on that criticisms against her were without merit. And Tuesday’s election is a reflection that Baltic residents weren’t buying the allegations, she told The Dakota Scout Wednesday.

“Baltic is a small town, and everybody knows everybody,” McIsaac said. “You can’t bamboozle a small town, and you can’t bring in big state politics here.”

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