Election filing deadline is Friday

The deadline for filing for spots on the city council and school board in Port Aransas is Friday, Feb. 17.

No races had yet developed at press time this week.

Election day will be on Saturday, May 6. The last day to register to vote will be Thursday, April 6. Early voting will be from Monday, April 24, to Tuesday, May 2.

City Council

At City Hall, Port Aransas City Council places 1, 3 and 5 will be up for election. Tim Parke is in Place 1, Jo Ellyn Krueger is in Place 3 and David Sieloff is in Place 5.

Parke, a store owner, has filed to run for re-election according to City Secretary Francisca Nixon.

Krueger, a property manager, has filed to run for Place 3.

Charles Crawford, part-owner of a property management business, filed to run for Place 5. Crawford served two terms on the City Council, from 2017 to 2021. Sieloff defeated Crawford when both ran for Place 5 in 2021.

At press time, Sieloff hadn’t yet filed. Contacted on Monday, Feb. 13, he said he hadn’t yet decided whether he will run.

City Council and mayoral terms are two years long. The positions are unpaid.

Anyone interested in serving on the City Council may contact Port Aransas City Secretary Francisca Nixon to obtain the paperwork necessary to file to run for office.

Nixon’s office is at City Hall, 710 W. Ave. A. The main phone number at City Hall is (361) 749-4111. Those wanting to be on the election ballot must file the paperwork before 5 p.m. Friday, Feb. 17.

School board

Places 2 and 3 on the Port Aransas Independent School District Board of Trustees will expire in May, so those seats will be up for grabs in this election.

Brett Stawar has filed to run for Place 2. He is president and CEO of the Port Aransas Tourism Bureau and Chamber of Commerce.

Deana Erdner currently holds Place 2. She said she doesn’t plan to run for re-election.

Erdner, a researcher at the University of Texas Marine Science Institute in Port Aransas, said she recently accepted an offer to serve as a temporary program director at the National Science Foundation in Alexandria, Virginia.

She said she will continue living in Port Aransas but will be spending a lot of time out of town.

Kristi Littleton, a realtor who holds Place 3, has filed to run for re-election.

School board members serve three-year terms. The positions are unpaid.

Anyone who’s interested in running for the school board may drop by the district administrative offices at 100 S. Station St. to pick up paperwork needed to run for office.

Water district

No terms will be expiring on the Nueces County Water Control and Improvement District No. 4 Board of Directors.

The agency supplies drinking water and sewer service in Port Aransas.

Statements

The South Jetty invites candidates to submit statements regarding their candidacies, reasons for running and qualifications for the office they seek.

Statements should be no longer than 600 words, and they should be typewritten and emailed to South Jetty reporter Kathryn Cargo at reporter@portasouthjetty.com, with “Candidate Statement in the subject line.

The statements will be accepted for publication at no charge through noon on Monday, Feb. 20.

Candidates who submit statements after the deadline may have them published at the South Jetty’s regular advertising rates.

Candidates may submit photos of themselves to be published with their statements, or they may make arrangements to have a South Jetty staff member shoot a photo.

Photos submitted to the South Jetty must show only the candidate’s face and be submitted as a high-resolution jpeg attached to an email. (No file- sharing programs, please.)

Candidates’ Night

Candidates’ Night, a voter education forum for candidates in contested races, will be held before a live audience at the Port Aransas Community Theatre on the evening of Wednesday, April 19.

The event is organized and conducted each year by the South Jetty. Mary Judson, the newspaper’s co-publisher, will ask the candidates questions based on Port Aransas issues.

Candidates must confirm their participation when they file for office or no later than noon on Monday, Feb. 20.

They may confirm by calling the South Jetty at (361) 749-5131 or by emailing Cargo and writing “Candidates’ Night in the subject line.

The South Jetty has held Candidates’ Night every year there has been a contested race in city elections since 1975, except for in 2020 and in 2021, when it was cancelled due to the COVID pandemic. However, the newspaper did have candidates answer questions through email and published their responses.