(Editor's Note: This online story has a corrected listing for the City of Mansfield race.)
There will be several seats up for election throughout Wright County on April 6, 2021. The filing period to declare candidacy began on Tuesday, Dec. 15 and officially ended last Tuesday on Jan. 19.
The final list of candidate declarations include:
Mountain Grove
In the City of Mountain Grove, there are six positions up for election.
Current Mayor Fred VanBibber has filed for the mayoral race featuring a four year term. Incumbent Danny Bledsoe has also filed for his position up for election, which is Marshall/Ex Officio City Collector.
Wards I, II, III and IV all have two year seats up for election. Incumbents include Webb Friend (Ward I), Tom Ratteree (Ward II), Sandra Mahoney (Ward III) and Sherri Unger (Ward IV). Mahoney, Unger and Friend officially filed by the deadline while Dan Bartlett filed for Ward II.
As for the Mountain Grove R-III School Board, there are two, three year seats up for election.
Both incumbents Danny Lathrom and Shawna Plummer filed by the deadline so there will not be an election this year.
Norwood
In the City of Norwood, the mayoral position and two aldermen seats with two year terms are up for election.
Incumbent Mayor Steven Jarrett filed for the mayoral race by the deadline.
Seats up for election in the alderman races are currently held by Donn Sawyer and Myrtle Day. The four alderman candidates who filed by the deadline were Larry Cochran, Jordan Miller, Nathaniel Davidson and Mike Fitzpatrick. They all filed for the race with seats featuring three year terms.
As for the Norwood R-I School Board race, there are three positions up for election.
With the resignation of Rick Calhoun effective April 5, 2021, there is a one year term position. Nancy Smith, R.A. Bradshaw and Randy Cottengim all filed in the one year race by the filing deadline. There are two, three year positions also up for election. Those who filed by the deadline include incumbents Chad Sullivan and Rhonda Coatney. Other candidates include Curtis Smith, Duane Atchison and Myrtle Day.
Mansfield
As for the City of Mansfield, Steve Baty was the lone candidate to file in Ward I. Ward I’s incumbent is Dwayne Delcour.
As for Ward II, incumbent Calleen Jones did not refile. The Ward II candidates are Luke Lawson, Megan Kingery and Courtnee Hopper.
As for the Mansfield R-IV School District, there are two, three year terms. Officially, four candidates filed by the deadline for the two open positions. Those who filed include Brad Hanger, Kati Pyle, Laynie Noble and Tim Brazeal. The incumbents were Randall Roy and John Roberts.
Hartville
In the City of Hartville, the seats up for election were for mayor and three at-large aldermen positions. The incumbent mayor is Mayor Rob Tucker. Aldermen Incumbents are Jeff Bettendorf, Nathan Helsley and Brett Long. Before the filing deadline, Mayor Tucker declared his candidacy in the mayoral race. In the aldermen race, Bettendorf and Long were the only candidates to declare.
The Hartville R-II School District has two positions featuring three year terms up for election. Incumbents are Jason Cryer and Jeff Ward. Both Cryer and Ward were the only candidates to file before the deadline.
There is one, three-year term position up for election in the Mountain Grove Special Road District. Incumbent Steve Sloan is the lone person to file in the race.
The Manes R-V School District has two positions of three year terms. Incumbents Rodney Barnes and Carrie Fessler filed before the deadline and are the lone candidates for the two positions.
