By Roger McKinney
rmckinney@joplinglobe.com
COLUMBUS, Kan. — The deadline is approaching for candidates to file for positions on city councils and school boards in the April 7 election in Cherokee County.
The deadline is noon Tuesday.
Positions to be decided in Columbus on April 7 include the mayor, city treasurer, and council members in wards 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. Positions 4 and 5 on the Columbus Board of Education also will be decided, as will a position on the hospital board.
In Baxter Springs, the mayor and one council position in each of the city’s four wards will be determined in the April election. Voters also will decide three positions on the Baxter Springs Board of Education; they are elected at large by residents throughout the school district.
Galena residents on April 7 will elect a mayor, council members in districts 1 and 3, and two at-large council members. One of those council positions will be the unexpired term of a councilman who died in office.
Positions 4, 5 and 6 on the Riverton Board of Education will be decided in the election.
Weir voters will elect people to fill one position each in wards 1, 2 and 3 on the City Council.
A mayor and two at-large council positions will be on the April ballot in West Mineral.
Scammon voters will elect a mayor, a treasurer, and two council members each in wards 1, 2 and 3.
Roseland voters will select a mayor and five council members, elected at large.
Treece voters will decide a mayor and five council members, elected at large.
School board candidates and candidates for Roseland city offices must file at the Cherokee County clerk’s office in the Columbus courthouse. Other city candidates file with their city clerks.
In Crawford County, Pittsburg voters will elect people to fill three seats on the City Commission. So far, five candidates have filed for the three seats that will be open when the terms of current Commissioners Marty Beezley, Rudy Draper and Patrick O’Brien expire.
The election is slated for April 7; if a primary is necessary, it would be conducted March 3.
“The law changed this year,” said Crawford County Clerk Don Pyle. “There needs to be three times the number of open seats plus one to trigger a primary.”
Correspondent Andra Bryan Stefanoni contributed to this report.
