SCOTT CITY 2000 RACES HEAT UP

SCOTT CITY -- The race for elected office in Scott City is heating up.

Three candidates have filed for mayor and at least one person has filed for each of the four seats on the city council. The filing period closes Tuesday.

The election will be April 4.

The race for mayor developed on the first day of filing when Rodney Holloway and Tim Porch filed. Both men currently serve on the city council. Just days later, Pete Sturm filed for the mayor's post.

Neither Holloway nor Sturm could be reached by the Southeast Missourian Tuesday evening.

Porch has been a council member for a year, representing Ward 3. "Originally I wanted to run for mayor first, but people told me it would be better to get my feet wet on the council," he said.

Now is a good time to be running for office, he said. There are plenty of issues facing the city, whether it be making improvements to the Interstate 55-Highway 61 interchange or passing a sewer bond and seeing the work through to the finish.

"I want to walk it through," he said. "This is my home, that's the main thing."

He owns Interior Plus and Elite Painting and Wallcoverings. He would take a business approach to running the city, Porch said. "We need to deal with issues as they come up. People don't realize how much a business can prosper and the employees and residents will prosper along with it."

In Ward 1, Jerry Garms filed for the two-year term. He is running unopposed.

Garms has not held elected office before, but was appointed to a seat on the police personnel board.

He is employed at Procter & Gamble and has lived in Scott City since 1991. There aren't any pressing issues that prompted Garms to run, he said. "I'm just a concerned parent and citizen."

Ward 2 candidates are incumbent Glendella May and Doug Jones.

May was first elected to office in 1998. She said there is still a lot to do in the city. Concerns have been cleaning out drainage ditches to alleviate flash flooding problems and the city has addressed that, she said. "We still have a lot to do but we have made some headway."

Jones is a newcomer to the political scene, but politics runs in his family. His grandfather and great-grandfather were both city administrators for Fredericktown.

Jones worked as an operator for the city reading meters so he knows "what needs to be done and what people are complaining about," he said. "I would like to see if I'm the one that could change it."

He now works at Greg's Auto Repair in Scott City.

Ward 3 candidates originally were Joe McDaniel and Kevin Gresham. Gresham, an incumbent, withdrew from the race because he and his wife are building a house and will likely be moving from the ward in a matter of months.

McDaniel could not be reached for comment Tuesday evening.

In Ward 4, Charles Klughart Jr. filed for the open seat, previously held by Dale Littlepage.

Klughart, who operates a contracting company for electrical work, was recently appointed to fill a vacancy on the council. He had previously ran for office in 1998, but was defeated.

Klughart said, "We've got a lot of things we need to work on or make improvements. I has some ideas I want to try to implement."

Most of the matters are just general issues, he said. But the city needs to cut down on waste and make its operations more efficient, Klughart said.

Mayoral candidates must be at least 30 years old and a resident of the city for at least two years before filing. City council candidates must be at least 21 years old and have lived in the ward they are seeking to represent for a year before filing.

No candidate can file if he or she has unpaid city taxes or municipal user fees.