Many seats to be filled in elections
1/6/2013
By DAWNE LEIKER and JUDY SHERARD
dleiker@dailynews.net
jsherard@dailynews.net
The filing deadline for the April 2 election is approaching.
The deadline to file is noon Jan. 22. Candidates who wish to run for open board of education positions must file with the Ellis County election officer. For city government positions, candidates can file at their city clerk's office.
BOE positions
Three at-large seats for four-year terms on the Hays USD 489 Board of Education are open.
Any school district elector can petition to be a candidate by filing a petition signed by at least 50 electors residing in the school district, or by filing a declaration of intent and paying a $5 filing fee. No candidate can withdraw from candidacy after the filing date.
If more than nine candidates file, there will be a primary election Feb. 26. If a primary is needed, the nine candidates receiving the most votes will be placed on the April 2 ballot.
The three USD 489 positions up for election are held by Richard Kraemer, Sharon Befort and Alan Moore.
Moore, who first was appointed to the board in 2004 to fill the position vacated by Kathy Spicer, announced in November he won't be seeking re-election.
Befort first was elected to the board in 1997 and is a Hays native who owns and operates Befort Harvest and Trucking along with her husband.
Kraemer also is a Hays native and vice president at Insurance Planning Inc. He first was elected in 2001.
Three positions also are up for election on the Ellis USD 388 Board of Education. They are held by Brad Tebo, Jerry Pfeifer and Cheryl Helget.
The Victoria USD 432 board has three four-year positions and one unexpired two-year term open. The four-year seats are held by Richard Braun, Alan Schulte and Patrick Nowak. The two-year position is the expired term of Patrick Scott who was appointed to the board following the 2011 election.
Terms begin July 1.
No candidates have filed for any of the open board of education positions, said Donna Maskus, Ellis County deputy county clerk.
City positions
Three positions on the Hays City Commission are up for grabs in the April election.
Those include the positions occupied by Mayor Troy Hickman, who has served on the commission since 1997, Ron Mellick, who has served since 2007, and Eber Phelps, who was appointed to serve out the remainder of Barbara Wasinger's term. Wasinger vacated her city commission seat in December after her November election to the Ellis County Commission.
Commissioners receiving the top two vote totals will serve four-year terms. The commissioner receiving the third amount of votes will receive a two-year term.
Shaun Musil is the lone filer for Hays City Commission. A primary election will be needed if filers for the open positions outnumber the available positions two to one.
Five council members and one mayor position are open in Schoenchen. Currently serving two-year council terms are Kevin Bieker, James Dinges, Douglas J. Kreutzer, Ronald Sauer and Jason Schneider. Mayor Richard Klaus also is completing a two-year term.
In Victoria, three council members and one mayor position are open. Kenneth A. Pfeifer, Janice Piesker and Leroy J. Schmidtberger fill those council positions, and Curtis B. Unrein serves as mayor.
Ellis city elections will include three council members, city treasurer and mayor. David McDaniel serves as mayor and Faith Scheck is the city treasurer. Council seats are occupied by Jolene Niernberger, John Leiker and Brian Raub.