Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
City office filings begin today
Deadline for municipal candidates is noon Aug. 29
Filing for municipal offices begins at noon today, including races for mayor in Fayetteville, Springdale and Rogers.
“When you’re the mayor, everybody recognizes you. I can be filling up at the E-Z Mart and people will say, ‘Hi mayor,” Fayetteville Mayor Lioneld Jordan said. “They might have a question, too. When it’s campaign season, they recognize you — and have a lot of questions, mostly about infrastructure.”
Jordan’s advice for anyone wanting to run for municipal office is be prepared to address any topic.
“If you’re even running for office, people think you have some say in everything,” he said.
“I think my favorite was the man with a design for a flying car,” the mayor said. “He showed it to me and had figured out how fast you needed to be going before you went to a launch ramp and took off. It was interesting.”
Filing at the county clerk’s office for whichever county the candidate’s city is in closes at noon Aug. 29.
Anyone who wants to run has to have a petition of at least 30 voters of the city, said Don Zimmerman, executive director of the Arkansas Municipal League, an association of the state’s cities. That for “first class cities,” which are generally cities with more than 2,500 population.
The threshold can be a little lower for burgs such as Springtown, population around 90, in western Benton County. As few as 10 signatures
are required in the smallest town, Zimmerman said.
The league published a list of approaching deadlines and other information for filing in the June edition of its monthly magazine City & Town.
That magazine is available online at www.arml.org, on page 22 of the online edition. The August 2015 edition of the same magazine has a complete calendar for the 2016 election season for municipal elections.
“You also have to file a political practices pledge, an affidavit of eligibility and a financial disclosure statement,” Zimmerman said.
Copies of these forms are
available from the Secretary of State’s website. “Running for Office: A ‘plain English’ handbook for candidates” is also available online from the website.
The practices pledge requires a candidate to sign a document saying he’s familiar with the laws regarding fair practices of elections and will abide by them.
It also makes you swear that you have never been convicted of a felony. The affidavit of eligibility states which office is being sought and the candidate signing it meets all qualifications. For first-class cities, it includes items like do you live in the town in which you’re seeking office.
A run for public office also means your finances become somewhat public.
The financial disclosure
statement lists a candidate’s personal income and, if married, the spouse’s.
You’ll have to tell where you work, business interests, investments, holdings, directorships or offices held. And don’t forget to list creditors, past due amounts owed to government bodies or some other debts, nongovernment sources of reimbursement for travel expenses and other information.
The election is Nov. 8.