With a week before the candidate filing deadline, Boyle County ballots for several offices are lacking candidates.
Candidates for the six city council seats in both Perryville and Junction City as well as seats on the Danville Independent and Boyle County school boards have until next Tuesday, Aug. 14, to file the necessary paperwork.
So far, only four people have filed for the Junction City Council race, and no one has filed to run for Perryville City Council.
Sherill Wall, Troy Gammon, Dewayne Taylor and Lloyd Bowling have filed to run in Junction City.
Boyle County Clerk Trille Bottom said there are often just enough candidates to fill the vacancies on the smaller government bodies. If there are vacancies after the election, it is up to the mayor to nominate individuals for those spots.
Both Danville Independent and Boyle County Boards of Education will have seats up for election. Two people — Lonnie Harp and Kate Graves — have filed to run for Danville Board of Education, but no one has filed so far for the Boyle school board.
In Boyle County, seats up for grabs are District 1 (northwest, includes Perryville), currently held by Steve Tamme; District 4 (northeast, includes Gwinn Island and Spears Lane) held by Sharon Johnson; and District 5 (southeast, includes Junction City) held by Alane Mills. Bottom said no challengers and none of the three incumbents have turned in the necessary paperwork, which includes two signatures of registered voters in the candidate's district.
On the Danville school board where members are elected at-large, the seats held by Lonnie Harp and Julie Erwin are up for a vote. Erwin's seat is already vacant because she recently resigned due to a move from Danville, while Harp has filed to run again.
Harp, currently the board vice chairman, is an experienced education writer and editor who has been a reporter for the Lexington Herald-Leader and the Louisville Courier-Journal.
He is a member of the library board in Danville and has been the volunteer publicity coordinator for the Unity in the Community worship series since that program started in 2006.
Harp is the father of a 2012 Danville High School graduate and has a fifth-grader at Jennie Rogers Elementary School.
Kate Graves, whose educational background is as an elementary school teacher, has served five years on the Jennie Rogers Elementary School Council, including two as chairwoman. She has worked fundraising for school field trips through a painted table project she created, worked as a reading tutor at Jennie Rogers and been the teacher appreciation coordinator at Bate Middle School.
Graves and her husband, Matt, have a son who will be a freshman at Danville High School, a daughter who is a seventh-grader at Bate Middle School and twin daughters who will be in the fourth grade at Jennie Rogers. She is also the owner of the Purple Pearl, a jewelry store on Main Street in Danville.
Bottom said the state Commissioner of Education could appoint someone to fill out Erwin's term or leave it vacant until the upcoming elections.
If things stay the way they are, there will be two uncontested Democrats on the ballot to fill out unexpired terms of constables in the 1st and 2nd magisteraial districts, which run through 2014.
Bottom said Steve Martin was initially appointed by Judge-Executive Harold McKinney to serve out the 2nd District term of Bill McCowan, who resigned earlier this year. However, it was later determined the replacement needed to by chosen by the executive committee of the Boyle County Democratic Party, and the group voted for James Henson to serve out the term.
The party’s executive committee also chose Don “Buck” Sawyer to fill out the 1st District term of Rick Bottoms, who died April 22.
Trille Bottom said the local Republican Party Executive Committee could nominate candidates to contest the two constable races.
The deadline for write-in candidates to file for all races is 4 p.m., Oct. 26.
Other offices
Four seats are up for election on the Boyle County Soil and Water Conservation District. Allen Goggin is the only candidate who has filed to run.
Incumbent Joni Terry, a Democrat, is the only candidate who has filed to run for circuit clerk. Bottom said it is too late for candidates to take the state exam to qualify for the office.
Requirements to run
City councils: must be at least 21 years of age; a resident of the city for not less than one year prior to the election; be a qualified voter in the city (registered); reside in the city throughout the term of office (two years); have no less than two signatures.
Boards of education: must be least 24 years of age; a resident of Kentucky for at least three years preceding the election; a voter of the district for which they are elected; have completed at least the 12th grade or have a GED equivalent; cannot hold a state office requiring the constitutional oath or be a member of the General Assembly; hold or discharge the duties of any civil or political office, deputyship, or agency under the city or county of his residence, nor at the time of election be directly or indirectly interested in the sale to the board of services, supplies or equipment purchased with school funds; have been removed from a board of education for cause; cannot have a relative employed by the school district, and must have no less than two signatures.
