School board seats in the Lake Hamilton and Mountain Pine school districts will be contested in September.
The annual school election will be held on Sept. 19, with early voting on Sept. 12-15 and Sept. 18. The one-week filing period for candidates ended on July 11.
Lake Hamilton School Board President Mike Tucker will be opposed for the first time in September by Nicole Freeman for the Position 55 seat. Tucker was unopposed in the 2007 and 2012 elections.
Mountain Pine School Board President Clayton Miller was also unopposed in 2007 and 2012. Michael Smith also filed to run for Miller's Position 5 seat.
Another eight seats on Garland County public school district boards will be uncontested.
Applications for absentee ballots were required to be available by Friday. The ballots must be provided to the clerk's office by Aug. 3 and delivered by Aug. 4.
Polling sites must be determined by Aug. 20, 30 days prior to the election. The deadline to apply to register to vote in the election is Aug. 21.
The Cutter Morning Star School District plans to pursue a millage increase of 8.4 new debt service mills and extend 15.5 existing mills for 12 years beyond their current expiration date to issue $10.255 million in construction bonds. The revenue would be used to build a new high school and basketball gymnasium on adjacent property owned by the district.
The total budget for the project is $14,463,575. The district is eligible for $6.266 million in funding through the state's Academic Facilities Partnership Program.
Cutter Morning Star would be responsible for the remaining $8,197,493.99. The total $10.255 million in construction bonds would be used for constructing and equipping the new high school, as well as the construction, refurbish, remodel and equipping of other school facilities.
Mark Rash, president of the Cutter Morning Star School Board, will be unopposed in Position 2. He was originally elected in 2002 when he ran against Eddy Slick, the board's current vice president.
Rash served on the board for an additional year following his first term after no candidates filed to run in 2007. He was re-elected over challenger Donnie Breashears in 2008, was unopposed in 2012, left the board temporarily and was again unopposed when he ran to return to the board in 2015.
Another seven seats on Garland County public school district boards will be uncontested in the September election. Nine out of 10 seats up for a vote in 2016 were uncontested.
Jennifer Walker is unopposed in the Position 3 seat on the Mountain Pine School Board. She was originally defeated by Tammy Brown in 2015 by a vote of 147-67.
Brown resigned in May to be considered for a position with the district and Walker was appointed to her seat a week later. Walker will serve the final three years of the term.
Fountain Lake School Board incumbent Greg Franks, president, and Sheila Ford, vice president, are unopposed for at-large seats. They were also unopposed in 2014.
Both candidates for seats on the Hot Springs School Board are unopposed. Debbie Ugbade will start her sixth three-year term in Position 2 in September. She was re-elected over Myra Young in 2014.
Cynthia Rogers filed for the Position 1 seat currently held by Karen Reese, who was appointed in December after the death of longtime board member Nathaniel L. "Bob" Freeman in November. Reese has been appointed to the board three times and re-elected once since succeeding her husband, Joe Reese, who died in 2013 after he was re-elected in 2012.
Kevin Meacham filed for Position 4 on the Jessieville School Board. Charles Williams has served in Position 4 since 2002.
Incumbent Will Maffit is unopposed for Position 1 on the Lakeside School Board. Maffit is currently the vice president of the board.
Local on 07/23/2017