MORGANTOWN — While there are candidates in every ward, it appears as if there will be contested races for just two of Morgantown’s seven city council seats — Wards 5 and 7.
Of the 12 Morgantown City Council candidates to file certificates of announcement with the city clerk’s office, 10 provided the required nominating signatures as of Monday’s deadline.
Communications Director Andrew Stacy said the signatures of those 10 candidates have been verified by the clerk’s office.
Those candidates are:
- 1st Ward — Patrick Hathaway
- 2nd Ward — Bill Kawecki
- 3rd Ward — Stephen Aitken
- 4th Ward — Jenny Selin
- 5th Ward — Tony Setley, Danielle Trumble, Marly Ynigues
- 6th Ward — Dave Harshbarger
- 7th Ward — Ben Mayle, Brian Butcher
Morgantown’s charter mandates a candidate provide 75 signatures from registered voters within their ward in order to get on the ballot. A voter can only nominate one candidate.
While 5:30 p.m. Monday was the cutoff to submit signatures, they can still be accepted if mailed and postmarked no later than that time.
The Dominion Post reached out to Paul Liller (3rd) and Zach LeMaire (5th) regarding the status of their respective campaigns but did not receive responses in time for this report.
In addition to selecting council candidates, voters will also be asked to weigh in on a potential change to the city’s charter that would double council terms from two to four years and stagger the terms so that every two years either three or four seats are up for election.
Should that referendum pass, the winners in Wards 2, 4 and 6 will be elected to four-year terms. All three of those wards have an uncontested incumbent on the ballot. Wards 1, 3, 5 and 7 will be elected to two-year terms.
Upcoming dates of note for the election: April 6 is the last day to register to vote; April 13 is the last day a write-in candidate can file a certificate of announcement; April 14-24 is early voting and April 27 is Election Day.
Council adopted changes to the city’s ward boundaries last fall in an attempt to better balance wards primarily based on number of registered voters, and secondarily based on ward population. Anyone wishing to verify which ward they’re in, or if they’re even a city resident, can do so through the interactive map on the city’s website, morgantownwv.gov, by entering their address.
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