Clock ticking: Deadline today for local races

MAT-SU — Today is the deadline for filing in municipal elections and the slate of candidates is starting to solidify.

Two seats are up for grabs around the Mat-Su Borough Assembly table. Lynne Woods can’t run again due to term limits. As of Thursday, three people had filed to run for her seat; one from Chickaloon, one from Sutton and one from Palmer.

Pete Houston has, according to the Alaska Public Offices Commission, filed his intent to keep his seat. According to the Borough he’s picked up at least one challenger.

People interested in school board seats are apparently the type who like to wait until the last minute. There are three open seats — those currently belonging to board clerk Susan Pougher, board president Colleen Vague and board member Myrl Thompson — but only one person has filed to run for the board, according to the borough.

As of Thursday, though, there were five names that appeared on APOC’s list and not the borough’s. None of them made clear exactly which seat was sought. Some of those are likely running for school board and some for assembly.

Moving on to Wasilla, three city council seats are up for grabs there. As of Thursday all three had at least two candidates, according to the city’s website. The open seats are the one vacated when Nancy Hall left to live in Argentina, as well as those belonging to Dianne Woodruff and Kristofer Larson. Larson’s name wasn’t on the list of candidates but Woodruff’s was.

Over in Palmer, as of Thursday the city listed no candidates running for the two open council seats, though APOC lists incumbent Mike Chmielewski among those who have registered for the election. The other open seat belongs to Kathrine Vanover. APOC lists one candidate running for council other than Chmielewski, though the report doesn’t specify which seat is sought.

The mayor’s race seems to be filling up, though, with three people filing to run for that job. Kevin Brown, a councilman not up for re-election until next year, is on that list.

And last but not least there’s the City of Houston, which, if APOC is any indication, seems to be a lot like the school board in that potential candidates are procrastinators. The incumbents there are Lee Himes, current Mayor Rosemary Burnett and Roger Purcell. APOC lists only one candidate who has filed to run in the Houston election.

In Houston, the council selects the mayor from among its ranks, meaning that whoever wins Burnett’s seat won’t necessarily be mayor. Burnett has been on the council for years but mayor for only a month. She took over in the wake of Purcell’s resignation from that post. Purcell has said repeatedly he has no intention of running for office again.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.