Chaffee mayoral candidates number four with recent filings for April election

Chaffee's field of mayoral candidates has expanded to four with less than two weeks left in the filing period for the April municipal election.

The most recent candidate to enter the race is Ron Davis, a general contractor with 15 to 20 years of experience in Chafee's city government as a councilman. Davis, a Chaffee resident for about 40 years, said he thinks the city government should be run similar to a business, providing service as efficiently as possible to its customers, city residents.

Davis also said he thinks some of the city's elected officials aren't doing their job correctly. They have "personal axes to grind," he said, without naming any particular members of the city government.

Chaffee's mayoral seat is open following the resignation of former mayor Bill Cannon, who resigned for personal reasons in October. Candidates include current Ward 2 Councilwoman Loretta Mohorc and current Ward 4 Councilman Jesse "Jack" Nordin.

Davis praised Cannon's work as mayor but hopes he can devote more time to the position than Cannon was able to due to health problems.

Another mayoral candidate, political newcomer Hope Huey, doesn't look at Chaffee's former leaders in such a positive light. Huey, a lifelong resident of Chaffee who works at the Toddle Inn, wasn't available for comment Tuesday afternoon, but her son, Charles Huey, acted as her spokesman.

"Her reason for running is to bring Chaffee back to the people, back to the way the government was run before the former mayors took over," said Charles Huey.

He said city government has been run for years without citizen input, and his mother wants to bring government back to town residents.

Also in Chaffee, Larry Springer has filed for the Ward 4 seat currently held by mayor pro tem Tom Cunningham. No one else has filed for the seat. Debbie Eichhorn has filed for re-election in Ward 2. She will face Doug Sutterfield in what is now the city's only contested council race.

Names withdrawn

In Scott City, two candidates -- current Ward 4 councilman Norman Brant and Lori Murrell -- have withdrawn their names from the April election.

Brant, whose on-and-off council experience dates back to the 1970s, filed for election early on, but circumstances have changed his mind about running. Brant said his run for re-election was dependent upon the status of a job he had applied for as Scott County's highway department supervisor. Last week Brant learned he was chosen for the position.

He will not run for council because he wants to devote extra time to his new position. He also wants to avoid any potential conflicts of interest that could stem from being employed as highway department supervisor and sitting as a councilman at the same time, Brant said.

Murrell's withdrawal leaves no one in the race for one of Scott City's Ward I council seats.

Incumbent John Crail has filed for re-election to his Ward 2 seat, making good on a promise he made to seek re-election before the filing period began in December.

With Brant's exit from the race, Larry Taylor is now the only candidate for Ward 4. Taylor lost to Brant in 2005. He served on the city council for a short period in 2004 before moving out of his ward forced him to give up his seat.

msanders@semissourian.com

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