It's open season for the November elections.
This week marked the opening of the candidate filing period for the November election, and we’re toasting a vibrant election season.
Even before filing, a handful of candidates for City Council and mayor have had full-bodied kickoff parties in Tracy, showing the community that both contenders and incumbents are up for the election challenge.
In a year marked by a presidential election spectacle, it may be easy to forget the importance of local elections. And while we tend to give a lot of ink to our council races, there are others that affect our daily lives, from the schools our children attend, to rural fire protection and irrigation districts and Mountain House’s first governing board.
Here are some of the races to keep an eye on (and even run for) this season:
• Mountain House Community Services District
The community of Mountain House voted last November to be governed independently by an elected five-member board of directors. For the past decade, the district has been governed by the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors.
In just the first week of the filing period, there are seven aspiring directors — Michael Klinkner, Martin Ngozi Kanu, Carl Hutchings, Jim Lamb, Doug Stevens, Thomas Lee and Matthew Balzarini.
But that’s just the beginning. The registrar of voters office expects to see 20 candidates by the time the filing period ends in August.
Now that’s democracy!
• San Joaquin Delta College board
Here’s a board that could use some new blood, as evidenced by several reports released in the last month.
First there was the San Joaquin Civil Grand Jury report, which blasted the trustees for violating open-meeting laws and mismanaging the county’s $250 million Measure L bond.
Then came a state commission’s warning that the school may lose its accreditation and its suggestion that the trustees adopt a code of ethics. Finally, there was the vote of “no confidence” by the Delta teachers union.
Trustee Dan Parises announced this week that he’ll step down after 33 years. The other three board members up for re-election are Greg McCreary, Leo Burke and Anthony Bugarin. McCreary represents Tracy and said he’ll run again so he can make sure Delta’s satellite campus gets built in Mountain House or Tracy.
• Tracy Unified school board
Of the four trustee openings on the Tracy Unified School District board, one is to complete the term of Joan Feller, who resigned halfway through her term. Trustee Kelly Lewis has filed for her seat, apparently because he only wants another two years on the board.
Incumbent Tom Hawkins is confident, though, that he has at least another four years in him for board service, so he’s running again. At 81, he’s been a trustee since 1992 and said Friday, “I love being a board member, and I still have my faculties.”
James Vaughn, president of the school board, also is up for election.
• Tracy’s rural school districts
The filings for Tracy’s rural school districts are typically spotty, even though all of the districts have big business to conduct in the years ahead. There are openings for trustees in the Banta, New Jerusalem, Jefferson and Lammersville school districts — and we hope to see more candidates willing to put their names on the line to serve those schools.
In all of these races, we commend each candidate who has stepped forward. Participation by a diversity of people in the electoral process ensures voters a choice — and a chance to learn more about issues of concern to the community.
Thank you, all.
• The filing period for the November General Election runs through Aug. 8. Forms for candidacy are available from the Office of the Registrar of Voters at 212 N. San Joaquin St., Stockton; or (for City Council) at the city clerk’s office, 333 Civic Center Plaza, Tracy. For information: 468-8945.
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