Mayor & 4 Council members to run again

Filing opened Monday for candidates for the August 18 primary and November 3 general election.  Candidates have until June 5 to file.

Mayor Dean Maxwell says he’ll run for re-election. Incumbent Council members Brian Geer, position 4; Cynthia Richardson, position 5; Bill Turner, position 6 and Erica Pickett, position 7; all say they’ll run for re-election.

Since these seats are all at-large positions, all city residents vote for each position. And, any resident of the city may file to run for any position.

The other 3 Council members, Nick Petrish, Kevin McKeown and Brad Adams are all elected by ward. Their terms expire in 2011. All council members have 4-year terms.

The mayor’s salary is set by ordinance at $81,618 for the first year, but increases by the amount the federal government sets for Social Security increases. The mayor’s salary tops out at $98,388 for a mayor with eight more more years on the job.

The School Board has two positions up for election this election this year. The positions are held by Mitch Everton and Kris Lytton. Both are expected to run for re-election.

There are two Hospital District commission positions up for election this year. Those seats are held by C.W. “Buzz” Ely and Paul Maughan. They say they intend to run for re-election.

Three Port commissioner seats are up for election. The incumbents are Ray Niver, Bill Short and Keith Rubin.

In addition, two Pool and Fitness commissioner positions, now held by Pam Lambeth and Andrew Olson, are up for a vote.