Candidate filing closed Dec. 31 for municipal offices and school board positions across south St. Louis County for the April 7 election.
Up for election this year are aldermanic seats in Green Park and Sunset Hills. Crestwood, Green Park and Sunset Hills will also have mayoral seats up for election.
On the school district side, seats on the Affton, Bayless, Hancock Place, Lindbergh and Mehlville boards are up for election.
Incumbent Scott Shipley was the only candidate to file for Crestwood’s mayor; there will be an election, but he will run unopposed. The role of mayor carries a three-year term, though this may be changed as the city is placing four charter amendments on the ballot, one of which would increase term lengths for all elected positions to four years.
In Green Park, the seats of Ward 1 Alderman Michael Broughton, Ward 2 Alderman Ron Slattery and Ward 3 Alderman Marty Finn are up for election. The three seats carry two-year terms.
Broughton and Finn filed for their respective seats unopposed, while Ward 2 will see a new alderperson: Ali Thornsberry. Current Ward 2 Alderman Ron Slattery — who has served on the board since 2020, and also from 1996-1998 — announced at the board’s November meeting that he will not be running in this election.
Also up for election in Green Park is the mayoral seat. Formerly held by Tim Thuston, who resigned in June, the position of mayor holds just a one-year term in this case, filling Thuston’s unexpired term. Ward 3 Alderman Joe Monteleone — the board’s president and current acting mayor, following Thuston’s June resignation — filed for the mayoral position, though it is unclear what will happen to his current aldermanic seat should he step up, as the city did not respond to The Call’s request for comment on the matter by press deadline.
Sunset Hills will see the most competitive election in South County, with ten candidates filing for just five open positions. The seats of Mayor Pat Fribis, Ward 1 Alderman Ann McMunn, Ward 2 Alderman Casey Wong, Ward 3 Alderman Cathy Friedmann and recently appointed Ward 4 Alderman Mark Colombo are up for election. Each seat carries a two-year term.
Fribis is the only incumbent to run unopposed. She has served as mayor of Sunset Hills since 2016.
The aldermanic races, however, will all be competitive. Natalie Akins and former Sunset Hills Ward 1 Alderman Frank Hardy will face off for the Ward 1 seat. Ann McMunn did not refile for her seat due to moving out of the area.
In Ward 2, incumbent Casey Wong will run against Greg Zveitel, a lieutenant and senior watch commander with the Sunset Hills Police Department, as well as Mark Schwarz.
Former Ward 3 Alderman Kurt Krueger will face vocal community member Angie Weigel in the Ward 3 race; Friedmann, the current Ward 3 Alderman, will instead run for Ward 4 Alderman against the newly appointed Colombo.
The Affton Board of Education, too, will see a competitive race, with six candidates filing for three open seats. The seats held by President Bridget Sinamon, Vice President Justin Carney and Director Jeanette Schoenberg are up for election; all three incumbents filed, as well as three newcomers: Chad Bernstein, Ben Wagner and Dennis Ellis. The seats carry three-year terms.
Bayless had three seats open on its board slated for election, though as just three candidates filed — incumbents Stephanie McCreary and Jeffery Preisack, as well as newcomer Colleen Elder — no election is necessary.
Similarly, three Hancock Place School District Board of Education director seats were up for election, though as incumbents Jean Parshall, Garrett Mees and Cody Watt were the only three candidates to file, no election will be held. The seats carry three-year terms.
Four individuals filed for three open seats on the Lindbergh Board of Education. All three incumbents — Matt Alonzo, Christy Watz and Andrew Lawson — have filed for reelection, along with Richard Breeding, a former Crestwood alderman. The seats carry three-year terms.
The seats of the Mehlville Board of Education’s Peggy Hassler, Jean Pretto and Jeff Wolman were slated for election, though as the incumbents were the only candidates to file, an election is not necessary. These seats carry three-year terms.
Editor’s note: It was previously stated that Richard Breeding was a former Sunset Hills alderman. He was a member of the Crestwood Board of Aldermen. It was also previously stated that Crestwood would not have a mayoral election due to one candidate filing; an election will be held, but the candidate will run unopposed. Crestwood term limits will be unimpacted by new legislation, should it pass; the new legislation will only impact term lengths. It was also previously stated that Greg Zveitel is a former lieutenant with the Sunset Hills Police Department. He is still currently employed by the department.
