The month-long filing period for City Council candidates competing for three seats in the April election opens on Monday morning at 7:30 in the office of City Clerk Martin Cole.
Who will be first?
Any surprise entries beyond the five announced candidates?
While it will be carefully noted that Meghan Sahli-Wells is the only eligible incumbent on the race, the four gentlemen who will be signing up have had the experience of sitting on the dais from where City Council members govern.
Göran Eriksson chairs the city’s by now influential Finance Advisory Committee.
Marcus Tiggs and Scott Wyant both have two terms’ worth of seasoning as Planning Commissioners.
Thomas Small is in his first term on the Cultural Affairs Commission, a slightly narrower record that is bolstered by a heavyweight biography distinct from any previous contender for the City Council.
Ms. Sahli-Wells is strongly favored to retain her Council seat – but that song has been warbled before to the regret of incumbents.
In recent years, School Board members Karlo Silbiger and Scott Zeidman entered Election Day as second-term favorites only to be upset.
With the voting base shrinking to an appalling 11 percent turnout in last month’s School Board races, it remains unclear whether the dwindling ballot numbers help/hurt/bypass incumbents.
But Ms. Sahli-Wells no doubt will be vigilant in spotting ill winds.
