No contested Mitchell City Council races yet

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Today is the final chance for city, school and county candidates to file petitions to appear on the June 5 ballot.

Five of six declared candidates for Mitchell mayor have filed their petitions and will be on the ballot.

City Councilman Ken Tracy, Davison County Commissioner John Claggett, former councilman Jerry Toomey, Tara Volesky and Roger Haley have all submitted valid petitions.

Becky Haslam submitted her petitions Monday afternoon, but they had not yet been checked and filed, according to city staff. If they meet guidelines by having the signatures of at least 50 registered Mitchell voters, she will also be on the ballot.

Mayor Lou Sebert is not running for a third term.

Only one candidate has filed for each of the four council terms that will expire this summer.

If no one opposes them, they will be automatically elected and their names will not be on the ballot.

Councilmen Jeff Smith, who represents Ward 4, Marty Barington, who represents Ward 3, and Mel Olson, who represents Ward 1, are all seeking re-election, while Randy Doescher is running for the Ward 2 seat being vacated by Councilman Travis Carpenter, who is not seeking re-election.

Mitchell has an eight-member council, with each ward having two council members. Both the mayor’s term and the council terms are for three years.

A City Council decision made last fall to change three one-way streets to two-way traffic will also appear on the ballot.

The change was approved by the council but put on hold when it was referred to a public vote.

Tags: election 2012, city council, news, updates, local, mitchell, mayor