City certifies council candidates

Candidates for Springfield City Council seats to open in 2011 have been nailed down, in preparation for the April 5 general election.

A primary election will be held Feb. 8 for General Seat C and Zone 3 to narrow down the list of candidates to two.

Mayor Jim O'Neal will be running unopposed for a second term. Springfield mayors can serve up to four consecutive two-year terms.

For General Seat C, the candidates are:

• Arthur Hodge Sr., a retired Springfield Public Schools employee who has more than 20 years of military experience;
• Christopher Donegan, who ran against Mayor O'Neal in 2009 and came in second place with 14.48 percent of the votes, according to a Greene County precinct report; and
• incumbent Doug Burlison.

For General Seat D, the candidates are:

• Thomas Bieker of Midwest Environmental Consultants, whose campaign Web site can be found here, and
• Fred Ellison, who ran for General Seat B in 2009 but lost to John Rush, whose term expires in 2013, according to a Greene County election precinct report.

In Zone 2, Jan Fisk, J. Howard Fisk Limousines co-founder and chief financial officer is running against incumbent Cindy Rushefsky.

Zone 3 candidates are Jerry Compton, who was appointed to fill the position when Ralph Manley resigned in 2009, Reggie Duke II, and Stephen Keith Pennington.

Springfield City Clerk Brenda Cirtin said Duke and Pennington did not submit biographical information along with their petitions for candidacy.[[In-content Ad]]