MORGANTOWN — With a brief, eight-word statement at the end of Tuesday’s Morgantown City Council meeting, longtime 2nd Ward Councilor Bill Kawecki officially ended any speculation about his plans for the upcoming April election.
“It’s not my intention to seek another term,” he said.
The announcement comes less than a week before the Feb. 10 deadline to file a certificate of announcement and nominating petition with the city clerk’s office ahead of the city’s April election.
Kawecki has represented the 2nd Ward on Morgantown City Council since July 2013.
“It’s not that I’m not interested. I’ve found council rewarding. We’ve accomplished so many good things and I’ve felt so rewarded for just participating. I feel privileged to have done that. It’s hard to give that up. It really is,” he told The Dominion Post. “It’s just that I need to do some things in my own life – my personal life – that I’ve neglected for a long period of time. So, I’m going to take some time to take care of that.”
Kawecki served as the city’s mayor from 2017-2019.
He said that the work of city council is demanding of your time and your focus.
“So, there are numbers of things that you just put off because you can. I’ve put off a good many of them and I need to get them back in order,” he said.
Kawecki defeated four-term incumbent and then sitting mayor Jim Manilla in 2013 to join council. He easily survived a write-in campaign from Al Bonner in 2015, then defeated Bonner in in 2017 (1,446 to 1,118) to win his third term. He bested Barbara Parsons 878 to 702 in 2019, and was unopposed in 2021, when he, Jenny Selin and Dave Harshbarger became the first council members elected to four-year terms following a charter change supported by the city’s voters.
The April 29 municipal election will select representatives for the city’s 2nd, 4th and 6th wards for four-year terms beginning July 1.
With Kawecki’s announcement, the next iteration of council is guaranteed to have at least two new members.
Harshbarger, who’s represented the city’s 6th Ward since July 2019, announced last month he would not seek reelection.
As of right now, Jodi Hollingshead is the only person seeking a spot on the ballot in the city’s 2nd Ward.
Hollingshead was in the news in 2022 as the organizer of Protect Morgantown, a community group that successfully pressured developer Hardy World to tear up a signed lease with Florida-based retailer Big Daddy Guns for its development, The Deck, at 1050 University Ave.
Selin, council’s longest-serving representative at nearly 18 years, is seeking a return to her 4th Ward seat but could face a potential challenger in Michael O’Brien, who’s also filed a certificate of candidacy.
In the 6th Ward, Mark Downs and Stephanie Hunt have filed as candidates.
