By Debby Woodin
dwoodin@joplinglobe.com
Three members of the Joplin City Council who said last week that they would run for re-election picked up nominating petitions Tuesday.
Five of Joplin’s nine council seats — three general and two zone seats — will be filled by voters in the April 6 election. City rules require that petitions signed by 150 registered voters be submitted as part of the candidate qualification procedure.
Those who obtained the petitions are Mayor Gary Shaw, the Zone 1 incumbent; Michael Seibert, who is filling an unexpired term in Zone 4; and Mayor Pro Tem Mike Woolston, who holds a general seat.
Two others who hold general seats, Phil Stinnett and Jim West, have not said whether they will run again.
West said Tuesday that he would make an announcement next month regarding his intentions. Stinnett could not be reached Tuesday.
Stinnett will have served three, four-year terms when this one expires in April 2010. He was first elected in 1998. Woolston and Shaw were elected in 2002. Woolston also served by appointment in an unexpired term from December 1997 until April 1998. Seibert was appointed in 2008 to fill an unexpired term formerly held by Jon Tupper, who forfeited his seat after he was found to have violated city rules against interfering with city employees.
West has served three stints on the council, beginning with a combination of appointive and elective terms that ran from 1988 until 1996, again from 2000 to 2004, and he was last elected in 2006.
Zone candidates must live in the zone they seek to represent.
Each candidate must obtain 150 signatures of registered voters on a nominating petition and sign a declaration of candidacy to run. For zone candidates, half of those signatures must come from voters in their zone.
Candidates must be qualified voters and residents of Joplin for four years immediately before the election.
Candidates also have to file financial disclosures on their campaigns. Details about those campaign finance rules are available from the Jasper County clerk’s office.
The nominating petitions must be filed with the city clerk by 5 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 19.
A booklet on council election guidelines is available from the city clerk. It outlines details about qualifications for the office, along with duties and ethics.
Petitions
Nominating petitions are available from the city clerk’s office on the second floor of City Hall, 602 S. Main St. Details: 624-0820, ext. 220.
