As of Tuesday afternoon, however, only two residents, Matt Schadle and Mike Heimbuch, had formally decided to run for two open seats on the Homer City Council.
The city of Homer’s seat on the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly also will be open on election day, as will 10 local service area seats. Five seats on the nine-member South Peninsula Hospital Service Area Board are open this election, as are three seats on the Anchor Point Fire Service Area and two seats on the Kachemak Emergency Service Area.
Heimbuch, who currently serves on the council, and Schadle, a businessman, filed with the city Tuesday to run for council. Heimbuch was appointed in April to fill a six-month council vacancy after Rose Beck stepped down to move to Montana.
Heimbuch, a former legislative aide, has served on the Homer Port and Harbor Commission and the Library Advisory Board. He has lived in Homer for 30 years.
Schadle is a spokesperson for Aurora Novel Ventures. He has lived in Alaska for 21 years, the last six in Homer.
Schadle said he has been approached by a number of people suggesting he run for council.
“People feel I’m a good problem solver. I’m very good with business. I’m a self-made man, and I have time to get involved,” he said in an interview Tuesday. “We should all, in some time in our lives, serve the public.”
The council seats up for grabs currently are held by Heimbuch and Mike Yourkowski. Both are three-year terms. Yourkowski said he is undecided as to whether he will run for a third, three-year term.
The city of Homer’s seat on the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly also is open this fall. Assembly member Chris Moss has decided not to run again, said his wife, Pat Moss.
The borough began accepting applications for open borough assembly seats last week. As of early Tuesday afternoon, however, no one had applied.
Other local seats that will appear on Oct. 4 borough election ballots are:
n South Peninsula Hospital Service Area Board seats currently held by Bettyann Steciw, David Green, Jackie Dentz, Karen Berg-Forrester and Barbara Howard. Steciw’s seat carries a one-year term, and Howard’s a two-year term. The rest are three-year terms.
n Kachemak Emergency Service Area seats currently held by Dewey Youngerman and Joseph Middleton, who hold three- and two-year terms, respectively.
n Anchor Point Fire and Emergency Service Area seats currently held by Damon McCurray and Maureen Tracy, both three-year terms, and Susan Hecks, a one-year term.
A number of candidates have filed letters of intent with the Alaska Public Offices Commission stating they are running for borough mayor, including Ed Oberts, who is the assistant to Mayor Dale Bagley; Gary Superman, the current assembly president; John Torgerson, a former state senator; and John Williams, the longtime city of Kenai mayor.
Early this week, Soldotna resident Raymond P. VinZant registered with the borough to run for mayor.
Application packets for those wishing to run for borough mayor, assembly and service area seats can be picked up at the Homer borough office at 206 E. Pioneer Ave. and will be accepted until Aug. 15 at 4:30 p.m.
The city of Homer began accepting declarations for Homer City Council seats last week. Declarations will be accepted until Aug. 15 at 5 p.m.
Chris Eshleman can be reached at chris.eshleman@homernews.com.
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