Election filing period begins July 1
By News-Argus Staff
Published in News on June 20, 2005 1:45 PM
Why fight City Hall when you can run it?
Nineteen seats on Wayne County town boards, including four mayorships, will be up for grabs this fall. Every municipality except Golds-boro and Fremont will be affected.
Twenty seats will also be available on county sanitary district boards.
Filing opens at noon Friday, July 1, at the Wayne County Board of Elections, 209 S. William St., Goldsboro. Following the July 4 holiday, politicians-to-be can go to the county office 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.
People can legally file at their municipal halls, but Elections Director Gary Sims asks that candidates come to the county office if possible. Sims' staff can then provide them information they'll need on campaign finances, signs and other election laws.
The filing fee for most offices is $5. In Mount Olive, it costs $24 to run for mayor and $6 for commissioner.
The filing period ends at noon Friday, Aug. 1.
The deadline for new voter registrations or to update outdated information is Oct. 15. Election Day will be Tuesday, Nov. 8.
Eureka
Terms expire this fall for Mayor Randy Bass and commissioners Sandra Bass and Shirley Hobbs.
Mrs. Bass said Friday that she is leaning toward not running, but if no one else files by the end of the filing period, she will reconsider. She's been on the board around a year.
Bass and Mrs. Hobbs could not be reached for comment.
Whoever is elected to any of these offices this fall will receive four-year terms.
Mount Olive
The entire Mount Olive Board of Commissioners stands for re-election every two years.
Mayor Ruff Huggins plans to seek re-election, he said Friday. Huggins was mayor from 1995-1999 and has now served since December 2002. He also served 18 years on the town planning board, including 10 years as chairman.
Commissioner Ray Thompson, the at-large member on the board, said he plans to run for a fourth term.
Paul Smalley, District 2, and Jimmy Kornegay, District 4, say they will also run. Ora Truzy, District 1, and Lloyd Warren, District 3, have not announced their intentions and could not be reached Friday for comment.
Pikeville
Pikeville voters will choose a mayor and three commissioners.
Herb Sieger was appointed mayor in June of last year after Tony Medlin resigned. He could be reached for comment.
On the Pikeville Board of Commissioners, three seats are up for election.
Commissioner Lyman Galloway said he is not planning to run at this time, although he could still change his mind.
Commissioner Edith McClenny will run for re-election, she said. She has worked hard for park improvements, such as a sheltered stage, new playground equipment and a walking trail.
"I'd like to see that project through," Mrs. McClenny said.
Commissioner Johnnie Weaver could not be reached for comment. Weaver was appointed to the board to replace Sieger when he became mayor.
Whoever is elected to Weaver's seat will serve a two-year term. The other seats are all for four years.
Seven Springs
Mayor Emma Ward is undecided whether she wants to keep the job. She may instead run for her old job as a town commissioner, she said Friday.
The board appointed her mayor in November. As mayor pro tem, she had been filling in since August when Jewel Kilpatrick resigned as mayor.
Others rumored to be interested in the mayor's seat are town commissioners Danny Carter and Peggy Jones and former board member Barry Guevremont. Carter said Friday that he is undecided. Ms. Jones and Guevremont could not be reached Friday.
Allen Cash, a new board member, had been said to be considering a run for mayor, but he said Friday that he not ready for the mayor's seat yet.
If Ms. Jones doesn't run for mayor, she could still run for commissioner because her seat is set to expire this fall.
Town Commissioner Rodolph Adams is also up for re-election and plans to file, he said. He has been on the board so many years that he's getting too old to keep count, he said.
Walnut Creek
The Village Council terms expire this fall for Kathie Daniels, C. Darrell Horne and Tom Shaw.
Shaw, an appointee to the board to replace Ed Braswell, said Friday that he will run to try to serve the balance of Braswell's term, which will be 2007.
Neither Mrs. Daniels nor Horne could be reached for comment Friday. Whoever wins their seats will serve through 2009.
Sanitary districts
Five of the county's seven sanitary districts will tap new members for their boards.
All the seats on the Belfast-Patetown, Eastern Wayne and Southeastern Wayne boards will be available.
The current officeholders are Belfast-Patetown: Edwin Beamon, Ben Casey Jr., Landis Davis, Fred Newcomb and Ray Sullivan; Eastern Wayne: Daryl Anderson, Jerry Bean, Kivette Ivey, Homer Naylor and Ernest Schmid; and Southeastern Wayne: Sam Casey, Charlie Holloway, Edith Smith, James Taylor and Albert Williams Jr.
Seats expire this fall for three people on the Fork board and two on the Southern Wayne board. They are Henry Braswell, Donald Neal and Dexter Taylor, Fork, and Sally Rawls Bowles and W.L. "Billy" Scott, Southern Wayne.