Council candidates slate still not finalized

Friday, Feb. 14 was the deadline to file for a place on the ballot for the city council general election. However, there were some withdrawals and some last-minute applications that could not be verified before the weekend.

In another twist, a person can file to run as a declared write-in candidate, and the deadline for that is Tuesday, Feb. 18. A declared write-in means the person's name doesn't appear on the ballot, but votes for him/her will be counted if voters write the name in.

All this means we still don't know for sure exactly who's running. As of end of business day on Friday, Feb. 14, verified candidates for council include Marvin Gibbs for place 2, Mike Britton for place 4, and Pam Bell for place 6.  Chance Jobe was verified for place 2 but withdrew. David Smith was verified for place 6 but withdrew. There are still two applications pending verification and one application that was rejected and the rejection has been challenged.

There are still two verified candidates for the special election for mayor: myself and Jeff Winget.