Election filing erratic across the area

After three full days of filing for the April election, contested races for mayor have popped up in two cities, while in others no candidates for mayor, or in some cases for any office, have filed.

In Scott City, Mayor Tim Porch announced his intention to seek a third term in April well before the filing period began Tuesday. But a challenger, Charlotte Cannon, said she's been eyeing the mayor's seat for some time now.

And she's highly critical of the current leadership and vocal in her criticism.

"The existing council, I'm not impressed by them," said Cannon, a 45-year-old who says her background is primarily in business administration. "And for the most part, when I was out this past summer talking to people about it ... people were asking for change. We asked questions in regard to 'What would you like to see happen?', 'How do you feel about existing mayor and council?' Many senior citizens said they have stopped voting, because they've somehow lost faith in seeing improvements made."

Cannon said city leaders haven't focused on providing housing and assistance for the elderly and poor, and haven't accomplished much in the way of bringing good jobs to the city.

Porch said before the filing period began that city government has made progress on bringing in jobs. And he touts ongoing projects that should facilitate future development -- the Ramsey Creek Bridge project and attempts to get a new Interstate 55 interchange that would serve Scott City and Kelso.

The race for Perryville mayor is wide open following the death of former mayor Robert Miget, who was mayor from 1984 to his death earlier this month.

So far two men -- Marvin Ruehling and Mark Leuckel -- have filed for the seat. Ruehling said he wanted to wait to talk about the race out of respect for Miget. Calls to Leuckel weren't returned Thursday afternoon.

The mayor's seat is also up for grabs in Marble Hill, Oran and Morley. No one in any of those cities had filed for mayor as of early Thursday afternoon.

In Oran, only one person has filed for any office. Collector Marcia Roslen will run for re-election.

In Marble Hill and Morley, no one has filed for any office up for election in April.

The only filings in Jackson thus far have been incumbents Curtis Poore, Joe Bob Baker, Dave Reiminger and Larry Cunningham.

msanders@semissourian.com

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