As of Wednesday of this week, the incumbents, Steve Baker for City Treasurer and Alice Atkins for City Clerk had pulled paper to seek reelection to those offices. Both have indicated that they will formally file prior to the deadline.
Mayor Mary Ann Lutz has pulled the necessary paperwork to file for reelection and has an appointment today, Thursday, to formally file her paperwork. In addition, Steve Grollneck has completed and filed his paperwork to run for mayor, however he has also pulled the necessary paperwork to run for City Council. If he chooses to run for City Council, he must withdraw the filing for Mayor according to City Clerk Atkins.
Since the incumbents are filing for re-election, the deadline for filing for the offices of Mayor, City Clerk and City Treasurer is 5:30 p.m. this Friday, January 11.
City Council Member Joe Garcia announced last month that he will not seek reelection. This extends the filing date for that office to January 16. Two City Council seats are up for election. One is the seat being vacated by Garcia. The other is the seat held by Council Member Clarence Shaw, but currently being filled by Larry Spicer. Spicer was appointed to fill the seat temporarily while Shaw has been on active duty with the U.S. Army.
Shaw contacted this newspaper on Tuesday of this week and indicated that he intends to file for re-election. According to Atkins, he has contacted her regarding the election, but has not yet made an appointment to either draw the paperwork to file or to file. An appointment is necessary to file.
With Garcia’s seat clearly open, several candidates have already drawn papers showing an interest in the office. No one has yet completed and filed the necessary documents. Among those who have started the process are Spicer who has been sitting on the council for a year filling Shaw’s seat in his absence, Scott Austin, who currently serves on the Planning Commission, Donna Baker, a realtor with Podley Properties, and Alex Blackburn, a local attorney. As already noted, Steve Grollneck who has run unsuccessfully for both mayor and council in the past has also drawn the paperwork necessary to file.
By Susan Motander
