By Travis Mounts

The filing deadline for local races passed at noon on Tuesday and the spring ballot now is taking shape. None of the races drew enough candidates to warrant a primary. The General Election will be held April 2.

There will be some new faces as a handful of incumbents are not seeking re-election. Just how many new faces wind up on city councils or school boards will be up to the voters.

Sedgwick County Election Commissioner Tabitha Lehman said Tuesday evening that the final list of city candidates was still being compiled. The list of candidates should be considered incomplete for all the cities in our coverage area. Once the Election Office has the full list of candidates, it will be posted online at tsnews.com.

We know that in Cheney, incumbents Jeff Albers and Carl Koster, Jr., had filed for re-election. Current council member Angie Gregory is not seeking re-election, but Judy Lehner had filed for one of the three open seats. Mayor Linda Ball also had filed for re-election.

In Clearwater, Karl May and Chris Griffin filed for the three available seats that will be on the ballot this spring. The open seats are currently held by Lyle Berntsen, David FitzGerald and Sandra Keeler. Mayor Michael York is not up for re-election.

In Garden Plain, the seats of Kevin Hammond and Bobby Thompson will be on the ballot. Both have filed for re-election, as has Mayor Larry Lampe.

In Goddard, there are at least four newcomers seeking one of two seats up for grabs. The seats are currently held by Craig Bassett and Todd Wentz. The candidates so far include Jamey Blubaugh, Chris Hahn, Enrique Ramirez and Steven North. Mayor Marcey Gregory is seeking re-election and is being challenged by Shawn Lux.

Following is the school board information, which should be complete.

• The USD 264 Clearwater Board of Education will see some changes. Current school board member Roy Riggs is the only incumbent in the contest, although there are three seats open. Also running are Todd Dannenberg, Lindy May, Jason Martin and Eric Walter.

• USD 265 Goddard. There will be a full slate of candidates for the Goddard Board of Education. On the ballot will be Douglas Griswold, Ruth Wood, Kevin McWhorter, Mark Richards, Andrew Best and Michael Pochek. Griswold and McWhorter are incumbents. There are three seats available.
• USD 267 Renwick. There are no contested seats in the USD 267 Renwick BOE race. Rick Heimerman will be unopposed for District 3 Position 6, which covers the Garden Plain area. Bill Brand is running for District 1 Position 4, and Brent Dome is running for District 2 Position 5. Both Brand and Dome will be new to the BOE. Charlie Martin of Andale and Joe Scheer of Colwich are not seeking re-election.

• USD 268 Cheney. Eight candidates are seeking three open seats on the USD 268 Cheney Board of Education. Van Dewey is the only incumbent seeking re-election. Also seeking office are Karl Freund, Jacque Keller, Tonia Stoehr, Van Dewey, Teri Albers, Brandt Ditgen, Jarrod Bartlett and Rusty Slusser.