By Wally Kennedy

wkennedy@joplinglobe.com

AURORA, Mo. — Voters in the Aurora R-8 School District will be asked in the April 8 election to decide whether a $4 million lease-purchase agreement should become a general-obligation bond issue.

Dale Slagle, superintendent, said voters in 2004 approved the lease-purchase agreement and a $7 million general-obligation bond issue to construct a new high school.

At the time, the district had to seek two funding sources because it did not have the bonding capacity for an $11 million bond issue. Slagle said the school was completed in January 2007, and that the district now has the bonding capacity to handle the lease-purchase agreement.

He said a bond refinancing would convert the lease-purchase agreement into a general-obligation bond issue. Payments on the bond issue would be made via a levy of 11.63 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. Payments from the district’s operating funds would be replaced by payments from the debt-service fund.

The new bond issue, if approved by voters by a four-sevenths majority, would end in 2024, the same year the lease-purchase agreement was to end.

Slagle said the district is hoping for a better interest rate with the bond issue.

“Those rates have gone up of late,” he said. “If we can’t get better rates, there’s not much incentive to do it.”

Also in Aurora, voters will select three school board members for three-year terms. The candidates are Don Sparks, Scott Welch and Eric Seifried, all incumbents, and Michele Parbury, Derek Sears, Mark McCully and Cherri Nash.

Aurora voters also will choose two members of the City Council for three-year terms. The candidates are Steven W. Kahre and Dan Broyles, the incumbents, and Eddie Breeding, Stephen Wiles and Jerry Lee West.

Elsewhere in Lawrence County, voters will elect candidates for city and school offices.

Marionville

Voters will choose three directors for three-year terms on the school board. The candidates are Theresa Setzer, Chris Murphy and Kay Kerans, all incumbents, and Brandon White and Rebecca Walker.

A mayor will be chosen for a two-year term. The candidates are Doris Rapp, the incumbent, and David Arnsmeyer.

For Ward 2 alderman, voters will choose one candidate for a two-year term. The candidates are Bob Marsh, the incumbent, and Max McBride.

For Ward 3 alderman, voters will choose one candidate for a two-year term. The candidates are Robert “Bob” Duda Jr. and Kay Leffingwell, the incumbent.

Miller

Voters will choose three directors for three-year terms on the school board. The candidates are Mark A. Harrington, Richard M. Buus, Richard P. Smith and Todd J. Cook, and Chad Hill and Scott Jack, both incumbents.

A mayor will be chosen for a two-year term. The candidates are Allan LaSalle, the incumbent, and Dennis Ray Harris.

For alderman at large, voters will choose two candidates for two-year terms. The candidates are Garry Baker and Leonard Lawmaster, and Avon L. Snyder and Richard A. Dunn, both incumbents.

Mount Vernon

Voters will choose three directors for three-year terms on the school board. The candidates are Ron Schmidly, Gary Emerson and Gene Ingle, all incumbents, and John Mareth.

For Ward 4 alderman, voters will choose one candidate for a two-year term. The candidates are James W. Schmitt, Michael J. Tebow and John Hull, the incumbent.

Pierce City

Voters will choose three directors for three-year terms on the school board. The candidates are Randy Staponski and Kevin Hatfield, both incumbents, and Kelly Lakin, Jason Chapman, Jim Barchak, David Jones and Hollis Webb.

For Ward 3 alderman, voters will choose one candidate for a two-year term. The candidates are Ben H. Slagle and Larry Bartkoski, the incumbent.

Verona

Voters will choose three directors for three-year terms on the school board. The candidates are Roger Bandy, Edward D. Kristek and YaVonne Koehler, all incumbents, and Roy Snyder and Rebecca A. Sherwood.

Billings Fire Protection District

Voters will choose one board member for a six-year-term. The candidates are Jim Spivy and Darren Fabro. They also will choose a board member for a four-year term. The candidates are Janice Bluebaum and Rob Verch.

Lawrence County Ambulance District

Voters in District 3 will choose one board member for a three-year term. The candidates are Ashley E. Anderson and Deborah Schoen.

Junior College District of Central Southwest Missouri

Voters in the Ozarks Technical Community College district will choose two trustees for six-year terms. The candidates are J. Howard Fisk, Jeanette R. Unsell, Dan Manna and Maryellen Stratmann.

Red Oak Road District

Voters will choose one commissioner for a three-year term. The candidates are Jim McCann and Stanley Kleeman.

Green Road District

Voters will choose one commissioner for a three-year term. The candidates are Rodney Riley and Jerry Reach.

Unopposed candidates

The following candidates are unopposed and virtually assured of election.

Freistatt — Board of trustees, Delpha Bowling and Mike Ortwein.

Marionville — Ward 1 alderman, Jim Dickenson.

Mount Vernon — Mayor, David Eden; Ward 1 alderman, Bruce P. Conway; Ward 2 alderman (two-year term), Carol Millsap; Ward 2 alderman (one-year term), David Van Pelt; Ward 3 alderman, April Mieswinkel-Thompson.

Pierce City — Mayor, Carol S. Hirsch; Ward 1 alderman, John Archer; Ward 2 alderman, Scott L. Wahl; Ward 4 alderman, Willie G. Parks.

Stotts City — Mayor, Joel Margolis; North Ward alderman, Carl Hobbs; South Ward alderman, Kenneth Shepard.

Verona — Aldermen at large, Julie Wolf and Lloyd Airrington.

Buck Prairie Road District — Commissioner, Gene Godwin.

Verona Road District — Commissioner, Allen Carr.