Regardless of size, towns need leadership, and three area towns will vote in their leaders Tuesday.

Dayton, Harcourt and Lehigh will see some competition between incumbents and new faces next week.

In Dayton, two council seats are up for election with three contenders. Harcourt will select a new mayor from three competing citizens, and Lehigh has seven residents to select from to fill three City Council seats.

While the towns are miles apart, the issues their leaders face are similar: infrastructure, a need for new businesses and keeping their towns free of clutter.

Budgets will also present a challenge in the coming year.

"Money is one of the biggest challenges facing the city," said Kevin Diehl, who is running for a City Council seat in Dayton. "Everyone is struggling for money right now."

Even though budget constraints are inevitable, those running for office would like to see their towns progress.

"We know there will be a crunch with the loss of jobs in Webster City," said Jerry Slawson, of Lehigh. "Those people will need help, and we need to address some utility issues."

Slawson is running for one of the open council seats. He believes there are grants out there for the city for street repairs and other upgrades.

"I don't have all the answers," Slawson said, "but I can learn."

Marvin Fortune is running for his second term as councilman in Lehigh and, in addition to cleaning up the town, wants to make the town more "family friendly."

"We're trying to promote the ball park and buy new playground equipment," Fortune said.

Roger Smith Jr. is also running for re-election and sees the issues facing Lehigh as "just normal everyday things."

"Water, city streets, they all take work," Smith said. "We just need to try and keep everything updated."

Roads are the focus for Dayton council incumbent Paula Gallentine.

"We have a lot of street repairs to work on," Gallentine said. "I'm not sure how we'll do that yet, but completing the repairs is one of our goals as a council."

Gallentine has served on the Dayton City Council for the last 10 years and helped with the city's most recent water main project.

For the town of Harcourt, water mains aren't high on the list. Instead, this Webster County town is raising money to purchase a storm siren.

"We'd like to see the siren completed," Donna Brundage, Harcourt mayor, said. "We're working to meet our financial goal of $8,400. Right now, we're short about $2,000. We've received grant money and some disaster aid money and private donations. The people are very aware this is something we need."

Brundage is running for re-election as mayor and is facing competition from Matt Davis and Devere Freeman.

Freeman agrees that the town needs a siren, but he says the council also needs to figure out a way to keep people in the little town.

Bringing businesses to the area would be one way, and Diehl has an idea to do that for Dayton.

"I want to work on possible tax incentives for businesses, if that's even possible," Diehl said. "I haven't dug that deep into it yet."

Brad Carstensen, of Dayton; Matt Davis, of Harcourt; and Lehigh citizens running for council - Rodney Cummins, Darrel Grossnickle Jr., Margaret Orr and Joe Tuel - could not be reach for comment.

Contact Lindsey Mutchler (515) 573-2141 or lindsey@messengernews.net