By BOB SHRALUKA
WZBD.com
Decatur Mayor Dan Rickord will be serving another four-year term and city council will have at least two new members – and the possibility of four in all – with the November general election ballot having been finalized by Monday’s filing deadline.
Parties had until noon Monday to fill any vacancies on their ballots, but there were no new filings.
While local Republicans filled their ticket for the five city council seats, they did not come up with a candidate to take on Rickord (photo), a Democrat, in the fall.
The last candidate “slated” into a ballot opening came last Thursday with the filing of Leslie Reilly-Green, a Republican who will oppose incumbent Democrat Tyler Fullenkamp in November.
With the passing of the deadline, Republican Abby Wilder is guaranteed the District 3 seat currently held by another Republican, Craig Coshow, as she has no opposition
Meanwhile, Republican 4th District Councilman Scott Murray is the only current member of the five-person council assured of returning as he will have no opposition for a new term.
Also unopposed on the November ballot will be Republican Kevin Hackman, who will be taking over the clerk-treasurer’s post held for the past quarter-century by retiring Phyllis Whitright.
Hackman currently is the city’s utilities director.
So the November 7 ballot will feature races for three of the five council seats: Reilly-Green vs. Fullenkamp for the 2nd District seat, Jenny Bowers-Schultz (D) vs. Gina Melcher (R) for the 1st District seat, and incumbent Matt Dyer (R) vs. Jennifer Hitchcock (D) for the lone at-large seat.
While Wilder ousted Coshow in last May’s primary, Melcher defeated incumbent Wiley Sirk by four votes in another Republican faceoff.
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