Keene files for council seat
Seats still open; Deadline is Friday
As the deadline nears to file for municipal elections, there are still several seats for which no one has filed.
Several officials have filed for re-election. The deadline is noon Friday, Aug. 17.
A new name is on the ballot in Pea Ridge with Cody Keene filing for a City Council seat in Pea Ridge. Keene filed for City Council, Ward 2, Position 2, a position currently held by Lance Sanders.
Keene, 30, and wife, Tiffany, have been married 11 years and have four children. He is project manager and estimator at Dean Crowder Construction. He and his wife own the Branded K, an event center north of town.
“I’ve grown up here all my life and I think we’ve done great things with our city,” Keene said. “I think there’s the next level we can reach. We need some younger people who can take it to the next level.
“We have a mayor who has done a great job for 20 years but we have a lot of people who aren’t happy. There are people who want to have it the way it is, but in order to grow, we have to make a change. I deal with multimillion dollar contracts every day. I know how to use what we’ve got in order to make the most of what we’ve got,” he said.
A native of Bentonville and graduate of Bentonville High School, Keene said “all my family is from Pea Ridge.”
“We moved here in 2012 so our children could go to Pea Ridge public schools,” he said. “I have a heart for Pea Ridge.”
He is children’s pastor and men’s Bible study leader as well as an active member of The Ridge Community Church. He is a soccer coach for spring Pea Ridge Thunder Soccer.
Bob Cottingham, Ward 1, Position 2, filed for re-election. He has held the position since 2005. He said he is seeking re-election because there is a lot of unfinished business to be taken care of.
Two persons have filed for mayor in Pea Ridge with Mayor Jackie Crabtree seeking a sixth term and Mechel Wall filing to fill the seat.
City Clerk Sandy Button, who has held the City Clerk position from 1985-2000 and from 2005 unto now (for a total of 28 years), has filed for re-election. The position earns $200 per City Council meeting attended. Button is also office manager for City Hall and Chief Court Clerk. She said she was hired as court clerk in 1977 by the Pea Ridge City Council. In addition to the monthly fee paid for Council attendance, Button’s salary, which she said is for office manager and court clerk, is $61,068. She has been employed by the city for 40 years.
Garfield
Garfield Mayor Gary Blackburn
filed for re-election for a second term.
Blackburn, 68, who was elected four years ago said he is running again because there’s “unfinished business.”
Blackburn, who retired from the U.S. Postal Service after serving as postmaster for 22 years at Avoca, Garfield, Bentonville and Rogers and lastly as plant manager of mail processing in Fayetteville for three years also retired from the U.S. Naval Reserve after 23 years. He served one year as mayor of Avoca (in 1979) before moving to Garfield in 1980. He served on the Garfield City Council one term before becoming mayor.
He and his wife, Vicki, have three grown children and six grandchildren. They are members of the Garfield Church of Christ.
Two Garfield City Council members filed for election — David H. Edwards for Ward 1, Position 2, a seat currently held by Terry Warren, and James Teeselink, Ward 2, Position 1, a seat he currently holds.
All four council positions are up for election in Garfield.
Gateway
In Gateway, Mayor Andrew Tillman filed for reelection.
Four aldermen filed for re-election. They are Don Deckard, Position 1; Steve Guck, Position 2; Sharon Barnett, Position 3; and Cheryl Tillman, Position 5. All five positions are up for election.