At the Monday night Peabody City Council meeting one of the most important announcements was made by Mayor Larry Larsen. He reminded council members who are coming up for re-election that their filing papers and fees are due at the Marion County Clerk’s office no later than noon on January 27. That reminder is for all of the rest of you as well. Your chance to serve your community is coming up April 7, but you need to file by the January 27 deadline.
Peabody will have three city council positions available in the spring election currently held by Steve Rose, Tim Peterson (completing David Scott’s unexpired term) and Travis Wilson (completing Pam Lamborn’s unexpired term). Also on the ballot will be Larsen’s mayoral position. Council members are elected to fill four-year terms and the mayor serves a two-year term. All positions are voted on by all the registered voters within the city limits. Peabody is not divided in wards or precincts. The mayoral candidate and the three council candidates with the most votes will fill the positions.
In addition to the city positions, USD #398 will have four positions up for grabs on April 7, with the same January 27 filing date. Bruce Burke, Terry Eberhard, Glendon Parks, and Tony Zappone are current board members whose positions will be up this spring.
The school board positions also are at-large positions. Anyone residing in the school district is eligible to run and the top four vote-getters will be the winners. There are no wards, precincts, or boundaries within the school district to dictate who may run for a given position. Board members serve four-year terms.
Paperwork for Peabody city positions may be picked up at the city office at 300 N. Walnut St. and paperwork for school board positions may be picked up at USD #398 Central Office at 506 N. Elm St.
And do you want to know if I think you should sign up and run? Well, of course I think you should.
I hear from many of you about your ideas for running a tighter ship in both the school district and the city. I hear your complaints about coaches, water, city streets, test scores, teachers, police vehicles, school vehicles, the swimming pool, rental properties, mowing ordinances, and dozens of other things you think need to be fixed. This is your chance to help fix them.
Perhaps if you become one of those people, you will realize what a mammoth undertaking our city, school, and county officials handle.
On the flip side, maybe you do have a vision for solving some problems. I and many others would be happy to have you on board as a player working to fix our systems and keep our communities alive.
The Peabody-Burns school board has had truly visionary members who have done wonderful things for our children and their education. Peabody also has benefitted from great mayors and council members who kept our community moving forward, bringing us into compliance with state standards in many areas while appreciating and preserving our history.
Running for office is not for everyone, but without good people willing to try to make our city and school district the best, it is almost a certainty that eventually we will fail to keep up. Remember to file by noon on January 27!
-SUSAN MARSHALL