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| Time running out to file for city, school, fire, ambulance positions |
By: Darrell Todd Maurina
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Posted: Friday, January 16, 2009 11:56 pm
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PULASKI COUNTY, Mo. (Jan. 16, 2009) — Those who want to run for positions on Pulaski County’s five city councils, seven school boards, two ambulance districts and the Dixon and Crocker fire district boards have only two business days left to file candidacy papers for the April 7 race, but some offices still don’t have enough candidates to fill all available positions.
The last filing date for all offices is Tuesday, Jan. 20, but the closing time for filings varies based on the business hours of the organization. City council, school board and ambulance board candidates should file at their city hall, school administration building, or main ambulance base. Since the Crocker and Dixon fire districts don’t have full-time staff, Crocker fire board candidates file papers at the Crocker City Hall and Dixon fire board candidates file at the offices of Bassett Realty.
Many but not all of those offices will be closed Monday for the Martin Luther King holiday, which means Tuesday is the only remaining day to file.
Only one new candidate has filed since Thursday afternoon’s filing report. In the Plato R-V School District, none of the incumbents, Mike Friend or Penny Morrison who hold three-year terms or Pete Scurlock who was appointed to fill a vacancy and would be running for the remaining two years of an unexpired term, have yet turned in their candidacy papers. However, challenger Kevin Christenson filed on Wednesday for a three-year term but his filing was not previously reported, and challenger Kimberly A. (Murry) Hodges filed on Monday for the two-year unexpired term.
There’s also an open seat on the Crocker City Council, which has been wracked by controversy recently due to a budget crisis, possible staff layoffs, and a public protest by about 30 people who came to Monday’s city council meeting to object to the possible termination of City Administrator Joyce Peterson. Incumbent Ward II Alderman Kim Skaggs-Henson hasn’t turned in her candidacy papers yet, and no one else has filed for that seat, either.
The other three positions open on the Crocker City Council don’t have that problem.
Incumbent Mayor Jim Morgan is running for re-election faces two challengers, Linda Wilson who filed Tuesday and Raymond Towe who filed Wednesday. Ward I Alderman Jim Patton has one opponent in his re-election bid: Bill Laughlin, who filed Monday for Patton’s two year-term. A second Ward I position is also open for only one year, and incumbent Alderman Jeff Curry faces a challenger, Tom Townsend, who filed for the one-year position on Wednesday. Townsend was incorrectly reported in Thursday’s edition as having filed for Patton’s two-year term.
The Pulaski County Ambulance District has two open seats, one each in Waynesville Subdistrict 3 and Crocker Subdistrict 4. Neither Waynesville incumbent Cindy Walters nor Crocker incumbent Larry Salveter have turned in their candidacy papers, though Crocker resident Ronnie Layman is running for the Crocker subdistrict seat.
There’s a similar problem in Dixon, where the Dixon Rural Fire Protection District has two seats available currently held by Les Clark and Jim Humphrey. Clark filed for re-election in December but Humphrey hasn’t turned in candidacy papers, and neither has anyone else. In the Dixon Ambulance District, Subdistrict 1 incumbent Dennis Lachowicz turned in his candidacy papers on Thursday but Subdistrict 4 incumbent Art Forshey has not turned in his candidacy papers. Also in Dixon, Ward III Alderman Steven Parker has not yet filed for re-election to his two-year term.
While city councils must hold elections regardless of how many candidates file, school boards, fire boards and ambulance boards can save money by not holding an election if the number of people running for office is the same as the number of people to be elected.
So far, that’s the case in the Dixon R-I School District and Swedeborg R-III School District, where incumbents Troy Porter and Craig Rivera both filed for re-election in Dixon last month and the last Swedeborg incumbent, Jamie Alexander, turned in his papers on Monday and joined his colleagues, Wayne King and Alexis Roam, who filed for re-election last month.
All other school districts in Pulaski County face a contested election, though there haven’t been any recent filings for the Richland, Waynesville, Crocker or Laquey districts.
The complete list to date of candidate filings for school and city offices is as follows, along with special districts:
Crocker City Council: (all two-year terms unless specified)
Mayor (2-year term): Jim Morgan (filed 12/16), CHALLENGERS: Linda Wilson (filed 1/13), Raymond Towe (filed 1/14)
Ward I (2-year term): Jim Patton (filed 1/9), CHALLENGER: Bill Laughlin (filed 1/12),
Ward I (1 year unexpired term): Jeff Curry (filed 1/2), CHALLENGER: Tom Townsend (filed 1/14)
Ward II (2-year term): Kim Skaggs-Henson (not yet filed)
Dixon City Council: (all two-year terms)
Mayor: Darrell French (filed 1/5)
Judge: Evan Shackleford (filed 1/13)
Ward I: Vienna Tyson (filed 12/18)
Ward II: Steven Parker (not yet filed)
Ward III: John Sheppard (filed 1/5)
Richland City Council: (all two-year terms)
Mayor: Bob Wall (filed 12/16), CHALLENGER: Kimi Gerred (filed 12/19)
Judge: Rodney Blanchard (filed 12/16)
Ward I: Eldon Haun (filed 1/13), CHALLENGER: Larry Jeffries (filed 12/29)
Ward II Mac Myers (filed 1/2), CHALLENGER: Thomas Murphy (filed 12/30)
Ward III: Tim Bailey (filed 12/23)
St. Robert City Council (all two-year terms)
Mayor: George Sanders (filed 12/17)
Ward I: Theresa Cook (filed 12/30), CHALLENGER: Charles Slider (filed 1/5)
Ward II: Gene Newkirk (filed 12/23)
Ward III: Allan Johannsen (filed 1/5)
Ward IV: Bill Shaw (filed 12/18)
Waynesville City Council: (all two-year terms unless specified)
Ward I: Diana Stanford (filed 12/16), CHALLENGER: Charles Anderson (filed 1/12)
Ward II: Adele Nickels (not yet filed), CHALLENGER: James McDonald (filed 1/14)
Ward III: Luge Hardman (filed 12/16)
Ward IV: Mike France (filed 12/16)
Ward IV (unexpired): Butch O’Riley (filed 12/18)
Crocker R-II School Board (three-year terms):
Incumbents: Charles Worstell (filed 12/16), Jeff Curry (filed 12/17)
Challengers: John Riffe (filed 1/8), Rebecca Ruckman Posten (filed 1/8)
Dixon R-I School Board (three-year terms):
Incumbents: Troy Porter (filed 12/16), Craig Rivera (filed 12/16)
Laquey R-V School Board (three-year terms):
Incumbents: Mary Cristoffer (filed 12/16), Mary Ann Miller (filed 1/15)
Challengers: Larry Southard (filed 12/16), Fanny Gan (filed 12/18), William W. Council (filed 1/13)
Plato R-V School Board (three-year terms):
Incumbents: Mike Friend (not yet filed), Penny Morrison (not yet filed), Challenger: Kevin Christenson (filed 1/14)
Incumbent (2 year term): Pete Scurlock (not yet filed), Challenger: Kimberly A. (Murry) Hodges (filed 1/12)
Richland R-IV School Board (three-year terms):
Incumbents: Troy Posten (not yet filed), Jo-Ellen Ferguson (not yet filed)
Challengers: Brenda Mathes (filed 12/17), Elizabeth Warren (12/19), Donna Guevremont (12/19), Mike Calvetti (1/9), Jerry Pemberton (filed 1/12), Ira Moss (1/13)
Swedeborg R-III School Board (three-year terms):
Incumbents: Wayne King (filed 12/16), Jamie Alexander (filed 1/12)
Incumbent (1 year term): Alexis Roam (filed 12/18)
Waynesville R-VI School District (three-year terms):
Incumbents: Randy Walters (filed 12/16), David Tritten (not yet filed)
Challengers: Leroy Fulmer (filed 12/16), Herman Blau (filed 12/16), Melvin Hensley (filed 12/16)
Crocker Rural Fire Protection District (three-year terms):
Incumbents: Robert Ishmael (filed 12/16), David Ellzey (will not file)
Challengers: Jeff Porter (filed 12/17), Randall Moore (1/2)
Dixon Rural Fire Protection District (six-year and three-year terms):
Incumbent: Les Clark (filed 12/23), Jim Humphrey (not yet filed)
Pulaski County Ambulance District (three-year terms)
Waynesville Subdistrict 3: Cindy Walters (not yet filed)
Crocker Subdistrict 6: Larry Salveter (incumbent, not yet filed), Ronnie Layman (challenger, filed 12/23)
Dixon Ambulance District (three-year terms)
Subdistrict 1: Dennis Lachowicz (filed 1/15)
Subdistrict 4: Art Forshey (not yet filed) |
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