By Lyra Bordelon
Of the upcoming municipal elections in Greenbrier County, many incumbents are running completely unopposed to represent the people of each town.
A completely uncontested slate in Alderson, Lewisburg, and White Sulphur Springs brings contrast to the four-way mayoral race in Ronceverte, where incumbent David Smith decided against running again.
In Alderson, the current council, Mayor Travis Copenhaver, and recorder Betty Thomas are all running unopposed.
Candidates include:
– Mayor – Travis Copenhaver
– Recorder – Betty Thomas
– Councilmembers – Ann Eskins, Tod Hanger, Becky Keadle, Doris Kasley, Charlie Lobban
In Lewisburg, several members of City Council chose not to run for their seats again, including Heather Blake, Mark Etten, and Joshua Edwards. Councilmember Sarah Elkins’s seat was the only one of five that is not up for reelection.
Although Lewisburg elections in the past several years saw two opposing slates of candidates from local political parties, only the Citizen’s Party submitted candidates before the registration deadline.
Candidates include:
– four-year council terms – Frank Johnson, Arron Seams, and Valerie Pritt
– two-year council term – John Little
In Rainelle, local government was initially unable to get enough candidates to fill every seat of departing councilmembers.
The race will be between:
– Mayoral candidates John Wyatt, Robin Williams, and Mike Rogers;
– Recorder candidates Bill Bell and Brian Day;
– Council candidates Ron Fleshman, Dave Spitzer and James Matheney.
In Ronceverte, Mayor David Smith decided against running for reelection, resulting in a four-candidate race with no incumbents.
“Most of you know that I do not plan to run,” explained Smith. “My 15, 16 years of involvement, with two terms on the council and two terms as mayor, are a really important part for me. I keep thinking of all the projects we’ve gotten done, projects we’re looking to, but shoot- I could stay here until I was 100 years old and [we] would still have projects going. At some point I need to do other things. … This will make things a little better – I’m going to give up three positions here at the end of June. [That] will give me a good bit of free time to deal with the other 20 [positions I’m involved in].”
In addition, one four-year seat and two two-year seats on council are up for election. Candidates include:
– Mayor – Eric Mercer, Barbara Morgan, current recorder Deena Pack, Mark Mengel
– four-year council – Leah Sills, Richard Beasley
– two-year council – Kathy King, Aaron Ransom, Tanya Hazelwood
The White Sulphur Springs municipal election will not see major change in the city, with only incumbents running. The election is set for Tuesday, June 8, with all precincts at the White Sulphur Springs Elementary School.
The candidates include:
– Mayor Bruce Bowling
– Recorder Kathy Lynn Glover
– Councilmembers – Mary Buskirk Collins, Mark D. Gillespie, Chris Hanna, George ‘GP” Parker, Audrey Burns Van Buren
