Candidates vie for open council seats

While most small taxing districts were ignored by candidates, races for city offices in Mountain Home and Glenns Ferry will be hotly contested this fall.

Incumbents Alain Isaac and Richard Urquidi, and former city councilman Geoff Schroeder, are all running for the two at-large city council positions in Mountain Home. Schroeder had declined to run in the last election in order to pursue some advanced schooling at BSU.

Glenns Ferry will have a new mayor after incumbent Joanne Lanham decided not to seek re-election. Seeking to replace her are Marvin Drewrey and Connie Wills.

For Glenns Ferry City Council, Larry Stevenson, Robert Janousek, Ralph Everett Jones, Joyce Ashton and Charlie Winter are vying for two at-large city council seats. None are incumbents.

The candidate filing deadline for anyone who wished to appear on ballot for the Nov. 5 off-year election was Friday.

The window for write-in candidacies is still open, however. Eligible candidates can submit a notarized declaration of write-in candidacy by Sept. 20 to the clerk of the appropriate district, if they want to run for office -- except that the write-in deadline for the cities of Mountain Home and Glenns Ferry is Oct. 8.

Any write-in candidate who doesn't file a proper declaration of candidacy with the secretary of the applicable taxing district by that deadline date will not have their names counted during the election.

After all those deadlines are closed, in cases where there is only one candidate running, on the ballot or as a write-in, that candidate will be declared elected and no election will be held for that specific post, except in the city elections were an election will be held, anyway.

And that's going to probably happen in most of the other small taxing district elections in the county.

The Western Elmore County Recreation District has one seat open, the District 3 post currently held by Mollie Marsh, who was the only candidate for file for the position. Marsh is the only remaining member from the original board when the district was created 13 years ago.

Steve Cramer will run as a write-in candidate for the he Atlanta Rural Fire Department's District 2 commissioner. That post is currently held by Mary Drake, who is not running again.

No one filed for any of the three open positions on the King Hill Rural Fire District. The district, which hasn't held a legal election in years, was attempting to hit the "reset" button and elect all three commissioners. District 1 is for a two-year initial term and District 2 and 3 are for four-year terms.

The Mountain Home Rural Fire Protection District had only incumbents Tom Ducharme from District 1 and Larry "Slick" Jewett from District 2 file for election.

The Oasis Volunteer Fire District will have two new commissioners. With incumbents Ken Johnson and Monte MacConnell not seeking re-election, Frank Brady will be on the ballot for District 1 and Spike Ericson will appear on the ballot for the District 3 commissioner's post.

The Eastern Elmore County Recreation District saw incumbents Cinda Gennette from District 1 and Mark Martell from District 2 file for re-election.

Voters also are being urged to pre-register for the Nov. 5 elections by Oct. 11 at 5 p.m. at the county courthouse. Anyone who has changed their name or moved must re-register with the county. Voters can also registere the day of the election at the polls. Voters must present a photo ID and something indicating their current address while registering.

Registration details and requirements can be obtained by calling the county elections office at 587-2136, extension 206.