Election Day for local city councils and school boards will be May 4, and filing began this week for candidates to enter the race.
Beginning Jan. 17, citizens interested in running for city council and school board could submit paperwork to make known their intentions for running for office. Any individual who does not file by the end date of Feb. 16 will not be eligible for this year’s elections.
Several seats (each one a two-year term) are open for local city councils. In Whitesboro, aldermen Ben Edwards, John Moore and Stacey Miles are up for re-election. The term of Colby Meals (who was appointed after alderman Barry Keller had to resign his seat due to a technicality) also expires this spring and he is up for re-election.
In Collinsville, alderman Thomas Worsham Jr., Stephen McDaniel and Chase Guidera (who was appointed last week to finish out the five months left in former councilmember Dan Riddle’s term) are up for re-election.
For the City of Tioga, three seats are open for elections. The Place 1 seat (currently held by Kurt Hall), Place 3 seat (currently held by Jim Coffey) and Place 5 seat (currently held by Heather Nesmith) are open for election.
Tioga will also hold a special election (on the same date of general elections) to fill the unexpired term for Place 4. This term will end in May 2025. The vacancy was created when former council member Jamie Skaggs resigned prior to moving out of the city.
As for school boards, area districts have several three-year terms available for election. The Whitesboro ISD will have two terms available, currently held by president Jeff Patterson and Kevin Hartless.
Collinsville ISD will have two seats available. Carrie Crane in Place 5 and Justin McDonnell in Place 4 both have three-year terms that expire this year.
Tioga ISD will have openings for Seat 2 (currently held by Dallas Slay), Seat 5 (currently held by Dugan Rainey) and Seat 6 (currently held by Stacy Price).
The S&S school board will have two openings as the terms of Chris Lopez and Sean Turner expire this May.
Anyone interested in running for city council should contact their City Hall to acquire the necessary paperwork.
Those interested in running for school board should reach out to their district’s board of trustees to complete the necessary documents.