All Decatur City Commissioners To Run Unopposed, No School Board Surprises
Decatur Metro | September 2, 2011Two years ago, Decatur hosted two interesting and informative city commission races along with two closely watched school board races.
This year, even with three city commissioners up for re-election, all are running unopposed, according to a requested list from the City Manager of candidates who qualified prior to today’s 4:30p.
Qualifying for Decatur City Commission:
- Bill Floyd (District 1 Post B)
- Kecia Cunningham (District 2 Post B)
- Jim Baskett At Large
Qualifying for School Board:
- Garrett Goebel (District 1 Post B)
- Peggy Bumgardner (District 1 Post B)
- Julie Rhame (District 2 Post B)
As you can see, the only race inside the city limits will be between Garrett Goebel and Peggy Bumgardner, who will vie for John Ahmann’s vacated spot. District 2′s Julie Rhame will also run unopposed for her School Board seat.
They’d better get that Sunday sales referendum ready, or the only reason to vote will be the District 1 school board race. Who/what else will be on the ballot this year?
I believe the Commission has already voted to put the Sunday sales on the ballot. There is also an education SPOST vote.
There’s only two comments (now three). I guess people aren’t interested in our local government or school board.
I’m interested, and I care!
While I think our Commission has done a great job to get us where we are at, I was sort of hoping for some competition. I had heard that one of the commissioners said last time he wouldn’t run in this election, and there were citizens interested in running for the seat. Hard to know when it is time to pass the torch, especially with a background of success, but if not this time, I’m hoping for some new blood and energy in the next Commission race.
I do understand why it would be a hard choice for Decaturites to throw their hat in to challenge entrenched incumbants. To really spend the time meeting your district, listening to as many concerns as possible, and communicating your goals to fellow residents is a huge commitment made at the expense of family, work and personal time, and when the odds are against overcoming such established Commissioners, hard to make that jump.
Honestly, I think many of these convos are going on “beyond the blog.”
The lack of citizen involvement in local politics continues to amaze me. Average turnout for a municipal election is about 20% vs 60% for a Presidential election, yet what has the most effect on our day-to-day lives?
This is not meant in any way as a criticism of the incumbents, and the fact that they are running unopposed is no doubt a sign of approval of their service. But whenever there is more than one candidate, the level of public attention to and education about the issues increases a lot. Contested elections encourage public participation and oversight, and those are always healthy. Decatur could use more contested elections.
Also worth remembering that it is a holiday. Internet traffic is bound to be lower while people are out and about, enjoying the lovely summer weather.
I don’t think it is necessarily a lack of citizen involvement – many candidates I know who were thinking of running for both Commission and School Board spots are very involved in community affairs – past and present. It is just that the entrenched establishment of Decatur politics makes such mince meat out of anyone who tries take on an incumbent in an election (or a candidate that the “establishment” favors in an open race) it is no wonder that many good candidates decided to sit it out this time. They just didn’t want to put themselves and their families through what they would have to go through with little to no chance of taking out an incumbent
The 3 Commission incumbents that are running unopposed this time have a combined service of 48 years on the Commission. While that is honorable – and we are fortunate to have had their service – what are we and they doing to make sure that when they finally do retire – that there is some continuity?
I think that is really something we need to think about. Bill Floyd, Peggy Merriss, Lynn Menne and Lynda Harris aren’t going to be running things forever. Shouldn’t we be grooming their successors instead of incumbents running for 3rd, 4th, and 5th terms on our small town city commission?