By MIKE MCCOY
Statesman Staff Writer
The filing period for the April 8 election for municipalities and school boards began Dec . 17 and already some positions will be contested in the election. The most interesting early filings were in the Dexter School District where six people have filed for three positions on the school board. The City of Bernie will have contested races for mayor and tax collector. Candidates for the April 8 election have until Jan. 21 to file for an office.
Six people have filed for three positions on the Dexter School Board. They include all three incumbents (listed in the order they will appear on the ballot). They are Mark A. Nea, Betty K. Keirsey and Kevin Bishop. Also filing are Ronald D. Glauss, II, Sarah (Kati) Blackler and Sarah Guethle. There are no assigned districts on the Dexter board, so the three earning the most votes in the election will fill the positions.
At Bernie, incumbent Mayor James Tilmon has drawn an opponent in David Teeters who also filed for mayor. Incumbent Tax Collection Maggie Teeters has drawn an opponent, Charlette Zimmerman. There are three aldermen positions on the ballot. Incumbents Dennis Jackson has filed in Ward 2 and incumbent Barry Zimmerman has filed in Ward 3. Incumbent Ray Coats had not filed as of Friday morning for Ward 1. No other candidates including incumbent Municipal Judge Norman Swafford had filed as of Friday morning.
Filings for school boards in other school districts as of Friday morning were as follows:
Bloomfield School Board -- Incumbents Bill Robison, Trevor Pulley and Ryan Mayo filed for re-election to the board. Those terms are three-year terms. Also filing was incumbent Vince Lockhart who was appointed to the board after Don Lafferty resigned. That position will be a two-year term.
Bernie School Board -- Incumbents Denny Riddle, Rick Beaird and Kenneth Walters have all refiled for their positions. No other candidates had filed. The term for all three positions is three years.
Richland School Board -- Incumbents Loyd Odum and Kevin Evans have filed for re-election to the board. Also filing as of Friday is Ben Eaton. Incumbent Terry Blair had not filed as yet. There are three 3-year positions on the ballot.
Advance School Board -- Incumbents Tom Schmidt and Ronald Martin filed for re-election to the board. Also filing for a position is Nanie Hawkins. There are three 3-year positions on the ballot. Incumbent Harold Miles had not filed as of Friday morning.
Bell City School Board -- Incumbent Brandon Stewart was the only candidate to file for three open positions on the board as of Friday morning. Other incumbents are Larry Gene Strobel and Scott Nichols.
Puxico School Board - Incumbent Chad Payne had filed for re-election and Brian Robison had also filed for a position on the board. There are three 3-year terms on the ballot. Incumbents Nicky Martin and Jeff Hamann had not filed as of Friday morning.
The filing period for the April 8 election for municipalities also opened Dec. 17. As of Friday morning the following people had filed:
City of Dexter -- Incumbent Mayor Joe E. Weber, incumbent Ward 1 Alderman Jerry D. Corder, Incumbent Ward II Alderman Larry Rogers, incumbent Ward III Alderman Jason Banken (two year term), and incumbent Ward III Alderman Frank Killian (one-year term). Rogers, Banken and Killian were all appointed to the board of aldermen to fill vacancies. No other candidates had as yet filed.
City of Bloomfield -- Incumbent Alderman Pat Wilson has filed to represent the North Ward in the city. There is one other position on the ballot, alderman in the South Ward. The incumbent is Donna Deardorff, but she had not filed as of Friday morning. They are the only city positions on the ballot.
City of Advance - Incumbent Carol Blanton has filed for Ward II alderman, and was the only candidate to have filed so far. The incumbent in Ward I, Randy Joseph Schrader, has not re-filed as of Friday. Those are the only positions on the ballot.
City of Bell City - There are two positions on the ballot, Ward I and Ward II. Incumbent Benjamin Abner has filed for his Ward II position. Incumbent Chris Duenne had not filed in Ward I as of Friday.
City Puxico - The city has two positions on the April 8 ballot. No one had filed as of Friday morning for alderman in either Ward I and Ward II. The incumbents are Gary Wilfong in Ward I and Lance Hamann in Ward II.
City of Essex - The city clerk was out of the office on Friday and will be off next week also. Both a Ward I and Ward II position are on the ballot, but no information was available about incumbents or filings.
City of Dudley - Attempts to reach the city offices Friday morning were unsuccessful.