Few file as election deadline nears
Staff writer
With the clock ticking down to a June 3 filing deadline for school board, city, and improvement district positions, 11 school board positions, three Florence council positions, one Hillsboro city council position, Marion mayor, two Marion city council positions, Lehigh mayor and a council position, and three Lincolnville city council positions still have no candidates. Three improvement districts have five positions and no filers.
As of Friday, here’s who has filed.
Schools
Centre school district has a candidate for every open position.
Jessi Brunner, Tampa, Steven Jirak, Ramona, Terry Deines, Ramona, and Michelle Hajek, Lost Springs, have filed.
Peabody-Burns school district has four at-large positions with one candidate, Hope Reynolds.
Marion school district has four open positions. No one has filed.
Hillsboro school district has four at-large positions with two candidates, Jared Jost and Timothy Kaufman.
Goessel school district has four positions for which two candidates have filed. Bryant Miller has filed for Position 3 and Sara Hiebert for Position 7.
Cities
Although Florence has openings for mayor and two council members, no one has filed.
Hillsboro mayor Lou Thurston and councilman David Loewen have filed for re-election, but no one has filed for a first ward council seat. Ward 1 is the seat of Jonah Gehring, who has filed for county commissioner.
“I’m trying to get someone to fill it, but they have to file,” Gehring said.
No one has filed for Marion mayor or two council seats.
Goessel has three council seats up for election. Two people, Dean Snelling and Cynthia Gaddis, have filed.
Snelling has been on the city council five years.
“Election is for a four-year term,” he said. “I took over for a guy who left the council.”
Snelling said the advantage of having a city council is to keep the city running properly and looking nice so it welcomes people to live there.
Council members also keep city ordinances in line with other cities in the area and state and make decisions about working on infrastructure, such as water lines and streets.
“If no one runs for city council, you have no one to take care of that,” Snelling said.
Improvement districts
The Eastshore improvement district has three seats and three filers. Those who have filed are Brad Gorsuch, Allen Albright, and Cliff Hodson.
The county lake improvement district has three positions. Thomas Neff has filed for one.
The Pilsen improvement district has three openings and no filers.