Eight Qualify for Three Council Positions
Qualifying for the Monticello city election, to be held November 3, closed at noon Thursday, Sept. 3, with three people seeking the post of Mayor Pro-Tem, two seeking the District 1, Post 2 position and three seeking the District 2, Post 2 seat.
Qualifying for Mayor Pro Tem were Alton Standifer, Stone Workman and Randy Strozier.
Qualifying for the District 1, Post 2 seat were Cynthia Miller and incumbent Cornell Williams.
Three people are vying for the District 2, Post 2 seat. They are Shaun Bell, Stephanie Chaney and Jenny Murphy.
The city election is non-partisan. Ray Lanier serves as election superintendent for the city, and voting will take place at the Courthouse.
The deadline to register to vote in the November 3 election is Monday, Oct. 5. Voters must be registered at their city address which determines which district they vote in. Mayor pro-tem is an city-wide seat, and the districts are roughly divided by the railroad tracks.
New Policy
Jenny Murphy, the advertising manager for The Monticello News, is running for Monticello City Council.
That presents us with a challenge here at the newspaper. As she is the advertising manager…and virtually whole department, she makes most of the ads typically, and is aware of what they are.
During this election season, The News will bring in an extra staff person after hours to create ads for City Council contenders. During business hours, another staff member will be available to work with candidates, or they may arrange to meet after hours.
The News has always prided itself on its confidentiality. As a matter of fact, the editor has often said that is one cause of immediate dismissal, and that is telling one entity what a competitor is doing. It doesn’t happen.
Two other hopefuls are vying for the seat that Mrs. Murphy seeks. It should not pose a problem for her to assist candidates from the other district or Mayor Pro-Tem candidates, but if they are more comfortable with another staff member, that will be fine. We have someone available after hours to make all political ads.
The deadline each week for almost everything is 5 p.m. Monday. Mrs. Murphy will be held to a deadline of 5 p.m. Friday to assure fairness.
The News runs the announcements free of charge to familiarize voters with the candidates. It is available to all candidates, but The News will not run any free publicity after October 15, so candidates should get their announcement in this month or early next month.
