With no race, Wissman getting second term

No one challenges Arlington mayor

Arlington Mayor Mike Wissman will serve a second term as the town’s leader as no one filed a petition to challenge him in the Sept. 17 municipal election.

Potential candidates had a noon June 18 deadline to qualify for the ballots in Arlington and Lakeland. Voters in Arlington will choose the mayor, three aldermen and two school board members. Meanwhile, the Lakeland ballot has two commission offices and two school board races.

Of the four Lakeland offices, three are open seats: Sitting commissioners Randy Nicholson and Gene Torrey decided not to seek office again, as did incumbent school board member Matt Wright. Besides Wissman, Arlington school board chairwoman Kay Williams is unopposed in her race for Position 4.

The rest of the races in both Northeast Shelby County municipalities are contested, including some late-filing candidates who picked up petitions and filed them shortly before the deadline.

On the Arlington Board of Mayor and Aldermen, Brian “Brian Elder” Groves will face Larry Harmon for the seat of Alderman Glen Bascom, who decided not to seek re-election for Position 1.

Groves and Harmon each have run multiple times for office in Arlington, and Groves, who pulled petitions for Position 1 and 2, chose the open seat after Bascom’s announcement.

Donald Lee Mills will face Gerald McGee, the current Position 2 alderman; while incumbent Jeff McKee is challenged for his Position 3 seat by Harry A. Spore III.

In the contested school board race, board member Barbara Fletcher is challenged by Robert Elliott Sr.

In Lakeland, five candidates will vie for the two open commission seats. Those qualifying are Michele Dial, Josh Roman, Larry Pardue, Christopher Smith and Wesley Alan Wright.

Those seeking the two school board offices are Jeremy C. Burnett, incumbent Teresa Henry, Geoffrey Hicks, Susan Miller and Mica Partain.

Lakeland voters pick two candidates in each race, and the top two finishers are elected instead of hopefuls running for specific offices.