Filing underway for municipal offices around county

James Beaty, McAlester News-Capital, Okla.
·3 min read

Feb. 7—Candidates continued to file Tuesday for offices up for election in seven municipalities around Pittsburg County, with a race shaping up for the Krebs mayor's office.

Filings are open for municipal offices in Alderson, Haileyville, Hartshorne, Kiowa, Krebs, Quinton and Savanna. The filing extends through 5 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 8, at the Pittsburg County Election Board Office in McAlester. Candidates with opponents will be on the ballot for an April 4 nonpartisan General Election.

Candidates who had filed as of 4:30 p.m. Tuesday include:

—Krebs — Chuck Nelms filed for reelection to the mayor's post, with Ward 1 Councilman Tommy Walker also filing for the office.

Nelms, a longtime Krebs fire chief and volunteer firefighter, won a special election for the mayor's office in August, 2022. Krebs called the 2022 special election following the May, 2022 resignation of Bobby Watkins in mid-term.

Walker, the current Ward 1 city councilor, served as interim Krebs mayor following Watkins's resignation, until Nelms won the August 2022 Special Election by nine votes out of a total 287 that were cast. Nelms garnered 116 votes in the 2022 Special Election for the mayor's office, compared to 107 votes for Watkins and 64 ballots for Connie Poole, who is the Ward 2 city councilor.

Because the August, 2022 race for Krebs mayor was a special runoff election to fill the remainder of Watkins' unexpired term, there was no runoff election among the top two vote-getters in the three-candidate field.

In other Krebs filings, Jason Wagnon is a candidate for the Ward 3 city council seat and Dan Heathcock filed for the Ward 1 seat on the city council.

—Alderson — Chuck Courts filed for Office No. 2 on the Krebs Board of Trustees. Sheila R. Martin filed for the town treasurer's post.

—Haileyville — Brian Mathis filed for reelection as Haileyville chief of police. Ryndie Liess filed for city clerk-treasurer

Also open for candidate filings in Haileyville are the offices of mayor and city council seats in Wards 1B, 2B, 3B and 4B.

—Hartshorne — Justin McLemore filed for the mayor's office. Elizabeth Wilson filed for reelection as Hartshorne city clerk. Former Hartshorne police chief Jimmy Don Wilson, filed for the Ward 3 seat on the Hartshorne City Council. James Edward Capers Sr. filed for the Ward 2 seat. Gayla Weldon filed for the Ward 4 seat on the city council.

Also open for candidate filings in Hartshorne is the Ward 1 city council seat.

—Kiowa — Danny Drake filed for Office 4 on the Kiowa Board of Trustees. Jeri Ann Hasty filed for the office of town treasurer, then withdrew her candidacy, election officials said. Also open for candidate filings is Ward 2 on the Kiowa Trustee Board.

—Quinton — Dawn L. Haviland, Paula Peevy and Jason Eugene Barnes filed for open seats on the Quinton Board of Trustees. A total of three seats on the Quinton Trustee Board are open for candidate filings, with the three candidates getting the most votes winning the offices.

—Savanna — Ronald Burks filed for Office No. 3 on the Savanna Board of Trustees, while Coy Holt filed for Office No. 1 on the Trustee Board. Katie Gragert filed for Savanna town clerk.

Candidates have until 5 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 10, to file a Contest of Candidacy after the filing period closes Feb. 8. Another candidate for the same office is the only one who can file a contest of candidacy, unless a candidate is unopposed, election officials said.

Declaration of Candidacy forms for all of the municipal offices up for election are available at the Pittsburg County Election Board Office at 109 E Carl Albert Pkwy., Room 101. The County Election Board Office is open from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Monday through Friday.

The election board can be contacted at 918-423-3877. Forms are also available from the election board at pittsburgcounty@elections.ok.gov.