BonnerSprings.com

The candidate-filing deadline has come and gone, and voters for both Edwardsville and the Bonner Springs-Edwardsville School District will have plenty of choices when it comes to the local elections.

For the city of Edwardsville, three candidates have filed for mayor to replace current Mayor William “Heinz” Rodgers, who chose not to seek re-election. Stephanie Eickhoff, John “Tiny” McTaggart and Lesli Trout will face off in the primary election on March 3.

Eickhoff, who served as Edwardsville mayor from 2003 to 2007, is a self-employed parttime security specialist; McTaggart, who was Edwardsville mayor from 1993 to 1997, owns the business Tiny Signs; and Trout, who served a short stint on the cemetery board, works for Fastenal in Edwardsville.

For Edwardsville City Council there are two positions, currently held by Patrick Isenhour and John Eickhoff, which expire in April 2009. Eickhoff, a retired police officer who is studying for a medical degree at Kansas City, Kan., Community College, and Isenhour, a self-employed restaurant industry consultant, have both filed for re-election.

Also vying for their two seats are: Mark R. Bishop, a Kansas City, Kan., fireman; John H. Broman, who is retired from the communications field; Tom Farris, an Edwardsville resident; and Randy Gilbert, a service manager at Builder’s Overhead Door in Blue Springs, Mo.

In the school district election, seven candidates have filed for the four open positions. Three of the seats are being opened by expired terms, which are currently held by Cliff Brents, Kay Shevling and Lewis Wood. The only one to seek re-election is Wood, a Bonner Springs resident and retired school teacher.

The fourth position came open because of a Kansas statute that requires all persons who were appointed to a term that has more than two years remaining to file in the next election. Connie Hadley, a retired insurance agent, was appointed to such a term, after Robert DiMaggio resigned, and therefore has filed for re-election.

The five remaining candidates who have filed are: Ray Cox, a Bonner Springs resident and owner of Cox Investments; James Eickhoff, an Edwardsville resident; Starla Newberry, a Bonner Springs resident; Jeff Tinberg, a Bonner Springs resident and support system specialist for a physicians management and billing company; and Troy Thompson, an Edwardsville resident.

The races for Bonner Springs city government are less contested as only one incumbent candidate has filed for four of the five positions open for election.

Current Mayor Clausie Smith, a retired newspaper publisher, is the only person to have filed for his open position.

In the City Council election, the following positions that expire in April 2009 are: Ward I — Larry Berg, a retired school teacher; Ward II — Tom Stephens, a business owner of a computer consulting company; Ward III — Rodger Shannon, a retired school teacher; and Ward IV, Jeff Harrington, co-owner of Alden-Harrington Funeral Home. All four have filed for re-election with the addition of Bonner Springs resident George C. Cooper, who filed for the Ward I spot.

For those races with three or more candidates, a primary election will be on March 3. Wyandotte County Commissioner Bruce Newby said some confusion about primaries has come up this year after the state passed legislation that said if there are only three candidates, no primary election is required.

Newby said this came about because of some cities in western Kansas that wanted to avoid having primary elections, but that counties are allowed to charter out of the law, which is what Wyandotte County has done.

Once the primaries narrow down the race to two candidates per-open position, the general election will take place on April 7.

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