With eight days left to file, some races in Chaffee, Oran lack candidates

With only eight days left to file for the April municipal elections, there are still many seats for which no candidates have filed in the Scott County towns of Chaffee and Oran.

In Oran, where four seats on the board of aldermen are up for election this year -- one in each ward -- no candidates had filed as of Thursday. The seats up for election are currently held by Ron Diebold Sr. in Ward 1, his son Ron Diebold Jr. in Ward 2, Brenda Cook in Ward 3 and Danny Forehand in Ward 4.

In at least one ward, the incumbent will not try to seek re-election. The junior Diebold said he's not interested in filing for re-election, saying it would be a "waste of time."

"I can't get anything done, so I'm just not going to be on there anymore," Diebold Jr. said. He has logged several terms on the board of aldermen and ran two unsuccessful campaigns to be mayor in 2006 and 2008.

His father said he's still undecided on whether to run and didn't realize his seat was even up for re-election this year.

Current Ward 4 alderman Danny Forehand said he's still undecided and will wait to see who files for the four seats between now and the Jan. 20 filing deadline. Forehand, who is finishing his first term on the board, said he wants to see if any "quality candidates" will file for the seats. If they do, that might influence him to run for re-election, he said.

The Southeast Missourian was unable to contact Ward 3 alderwoman Brenda Cook.

Chaffee City Council

In Chaffee, where five seats are up for election this year due to a resignation and appointment in Ward 3 last year, only two candidates had filed as of Thursday, both for the same seat.

Incumbent Ron Moyers will face a challenge from Ryan Pennington for his Ward 3 seat on the Chaffee City Council. Moyers, who was mayor for eight years in the 1990s and has been on the city council for nine terms off and on, suggested that Pennington be appointed to the council's other Ward 3 seat last year after Bill Dysinger resigned in August.

Moyers said he has no ill will toward the challenger, who he said will serve the town well if elected.

Steve Loucks was appointed to Dysinger's Ward 3 seat, but said he hasn't made up his mind yet if he'll run for election to the seat. Loucks said he'll likely reach a decision this week.

In Ward 4, Tom Cunningham, who has held the seat since the early 1980s when he was appointed to fill a vacancy, said he's undecided if he'll run, but leaning toward it, especially if no one else shows interest in the seat.

The Southeast Missourian was unable to contact Ward 2 councilman Jaeson Fraser. Ward 1 is open following the resignation of Deborah Eichhorn in October.

Scott City seats

In Scott City, one-term incumbent Mike Ellison has filed for re-election in Ward 1. David Kieffer, who was appointed to a seat in Ward 2 last spring, has also filed. In Ward 3, incumbent Robert Tyler, first elected in 2001, has filed for re-election. And in Ward 4 Jordan Heisserer has filed for a seat left open by the resignation of Larry Taylor last fall.

Positions in Benton

In Benton, where two of four seats on the city's board of aldermen and the city collector are up for election, long-term incumbents in each position have filed for re-election: Howard Bollinger, first elected in 1991, will run for re-election in Ward 1; David Mack, first elected in 1995, seeks re-election in Ward 2; and city collector Beverly Riley, first elected in 1994, is also seeking re-election.

msanders@semissourian.com

388-3652

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