Local School Boards Have Two Openings

With Tuesday’s start of the filing period for next April’s municipal election, two men who are on the seven-member St. Clair R-XIII School District and the Lonedell R-XIV School District boards of education have about five weeks to decide whether they want to seek re-election for another three years.

The terms of Dave Hinson and Danny Shadrick will expire next year in St. Clair. The filing period began Dec. 11 and runs through Jan. 15, 2013. Individuals who wish to file for a spot on the school board need to do so at the R-XIII central office on Bardot Street during regular business hours.

In Lonedell, Scott Schneider and Daniel Short are in the same position. Lonedell’s filing period also started on Dec. 11 and ends on Jan. 15. Candidates need to file in person in the school superintendent’s office during regular office hours.

Both school districts want to remind interested individuals that offices will be closed during the upcoming holidays. The central offices at both can be reached to obtain the specifics on closure days.

City of St. Clair

In St. Clair four municipal positions will be on next year’s spring ballot — mayor, two aldermen and judge.

For the first time, the next mayoral term will be four years. Voters in 2011 decided to expand the term from the current two years beginning in 2013. Mayor Ron Blum currently is in his third two-year term as St. Clair’s leader.

One two-year alderman term in each of the city’s two wards will be up.

In Ward 1, Zach Fuchs was appointed at the beginning of the year to fill the unexpired term of Connie Marrocco, who resigned in December 2011. Unopposed, he won re-election this past April to serve the remaining year.

His and Barb McGlenn’s first two-year term will expire. McGlenn represents the second ward.

Municipal Court Judge A. David Arand was appointed by Blum to fill out the unexpired term of longtime judge Nick Gasaway late last year, and, like Fuchs, won re-election in April running unopposed for the final year of the term.

Gasaway had reached the state-required retirement age of 75 and was forced to step down. The judge’s position is a two-year term.

The filing period for the city also started on Tuesday. Candidates must file at city hall.

Others

The St. Clair Fire Protection District, Ambulance District and area villages also have board positions coming open.

The election is scheduled for April 2.