The current seats, as of November 11, 2026

VERIFIED AGAINST THE TOWN'S OWN GOVERNMENT PAGE, CRAWLED OCTOBER 2, 2026, AND THE CLERK'S 2026 ELECTION RECORD

The council that sits in November 2026 is in the third year of its term, and one of its seats is already decided against its holder. The town's government page lists the five members: Gene Reese, President; Jeffrey Fansler, Vice President; and members Karol Jackson, Greg Payne, and Joyce Joiner. Reese — on the council since January 1990, a retired athletic director and a veteran, honorably discharged in 1976 — is the town executive for 2026. The Clerk's 2026 election record fixes two of the five to their wards: the member the town lists as Greg Payne is the Robert Gregory Payne of the Clerk's record — the filing lists and the primary returns carry the full name, the town roster the short one, the middle name explaining it, and no second Payne appears anywhere in the town's record — and he holds Ward 1; Reese defended, and lost, the Ward 2 nomination, as the elections entry tells whole. The ward assignments of Fansler, Jackson, and Joiner among Wards 3, 4, and the at-large Ward 5 were not established in any source reached and ride as GAP-WKGOV-2, settled by the county clerk's candidate filings and the town's own records. The council for the term beginning January 1, 2027, will be chosen from the same five seats: Ward 1 is already settled (Payne, unopposed), Ward 2 turns on a general-election result the published record has not yet carried (GAP-WKGOV-1), and the holders of Wards 3, 4, and 5 were not on the 2026 ballot at all — Indiana town terms are staggered by the town's own election cycle, and the three seats simply did not fall due. Who presides in 2027 is the new council's own choice, made in January, and no source reached can print it yet.

Sources:

1. Town of Walkerton (walkerton.in), government page, crawled October 2, 2026: Reese, President; Fansler, Vice President; Jackson, Payne, Joiner, members.
2. St. Joseph County Clerk, Precinct Summary Report, May 5, 2026 primary, Official Results (dated May 15, 2026), Lincoln Township precincts 070002 and 070003: Robert Gregory Payne, Ward 1; the Ward 2 contest between Rick Coffman and Gene Reese — figures in the elections entry.
3. South Bend Tribune (February 11, 2026): the Republican primary filings, naming Robert Payne; (October 30, 2026): the November ballot, Ward 1 Robert Payne (R), uncontested.
4. Redress South Bend (April 30, 2026): Reese's service since January 1990; his presidency; his biography.