BENTON COUNTY — With the filing dates having passed for candidates seeking statewide and county offices the attention turns to filing dates for municipal offices. These include Mayoral and Alderman positions for Gravette and other towns and cities in the state.
According to Kris Janes, Election Supervisor in the County Clerk’s office, voters in Gravette, this November, will elect a Mayor and all six of the city’s Council members.
The same is true for Sulphur Springs and Decatur, she noted, and added “the office of City Recorder/ Treasurer will not be up for election until 2012.”
Candidates for municipal offices do not file by party affiliation, hence the laterfiling dates which this year begin at noon Tuesday, August 2, and continue until noon Monday, August. 24. There is no filing fee.
For Gravette, which is true for all cities of second class, candidates must secure signatures of at least 10 qualified voters who are residents of the city.
The signatures for the Mayor’s position may be secured from residents city-wide; those for Council members must be secured from voters who live in the candidate’s ward.
Gravette is divided into three wards. Ward I is all of the area of the city west of Highway 59. Ward II is the area east of Highway 59, south of Main Street to Park Street, thence east onHighway 72 (southside). Ward III is the remainder of the city east of Highway 59, north of Main and north of Highway 72 east.
The position of Mayor, which is a four year term, is held by Bill Howard.
The positions of Aldermen, by Wards, are Ward I, Chris Beller and Terry King; Ward II, Byron Warren and Patrick Hall; Ward III, Brent Cannon and Kurt Maddox.
The four-year position of City Recorder, held by Mike von Ree, will not be filled until November, 2012.
Information packets for persons wishing to seek these municipal offices are available at the County Clerk’s office in Bentonville or at the satellite office, 702 S. Lincoln Street in Siloam Springs.
List Of Candidates Who Filed For Election
Filing date for county and statewide offices ended Monday and many, if not most, of the races remained uncontested.
Listed below are the contested races that will be on the ballots locally:
County Judge: Incumbent Dave Bisbee of Rogers, Robert Stephenson of Siloam Springs, Bob Clinard of Rogers and Tim Henderson, Jr. of Gentry.
County Sheriff: Incumbent Keith Ferguson of Rogers and Kelly Cradduck of Rogers.
Among the unopposed races are:
State Representative District 100: Mary Lou Slinkard of Gravette.
County Coroner: Daniel Oxford of Gravette.
Justice of Peace, District 11: Curtis “Steve” Curry of Gravette, Damon D. Wallace of Gravette, Nathan Florer of Decatur.
Constable, District 11: Gordon Fisher of Gravette.
Contested statewide races include:
U. S. Senate: Blanche Lincoln of Little Rock, Bill Halter of North Little Rock, D. C. Morrison of LittleRock, all Democrats. Republicans John Boozman of Rogers, Curtis Coleman of Little Rock, Fred Ramey of Searcy, Kim Hendren of Gravette, Randy Alexander of Springdale, Conrad Reynolds of Conway, Gilbert Baker of Conway and Jim Holt of Springdale.
U. S. Representative: Cecile Bledsoe of Rogers, Steve Womack of Rogers, Bernie Skoch of Elkins, Kurt Maddox, Gunner DeLay of Fort Smith, Doug Matayo of Springdale, all Republicans, and David Whitaker, Democrat, of Fayetteville.
News, Pages 1 on 03/10/2010