South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

Filing ends for April election: Here’s who is running in Lindbergh, Mehlville, Sunset Hills, Green Park

Students+at+Oakville+Elementary+participate+in+Kids+Voting+for+the+November+2018+election.+
Students at Oakville Elementary participate in ‘Kids Voting’ for the November 2018 election.

Candidate filing closed Tuesday for a number of governmental positions that are up for election April 6, setting up several competitive races across South County. One of the trends this year is that many incumbents did not file to run again, so there are a number of new faces across local city and school boards.

Filing began at 8 a.m. Dec. 15, and ran through 5 p.m. Jan. 19.

The Mehlville fire board and the Green Park mayoral seat will see competitive races this year. Incumbent fire board Treasurer Bonnie Stegman is being challenged by a former firefighter.

Aldermanic seats in Crestwood, Green Park and Sunset Hills are also up for election, along with three seats on the Grantwood Village Board of Trustees. Green Park and Crestwood will have a number of new faces on the Board of Aldermen, but no competitive races, while Sunset Hills will have competitive races in all four wards. And for the first time in recent memory, Grantwood Village will have competitive races. 

Seats on the Lindbergh and Mehlville boards of education also are up for election. Three candidates are vying for two seats on the Lindbergh board, while there will be no Mehlville school board election this year since only two candidates filed for two seats.

Mehlville fire board

The six-year term held by Stegman on the Mehlville Fire Protection District’s Board of Directors will be up for election, and Stegman filed early Dec. 15 to run for a fourth term after 15 years on the board.

Former MFPD firefighter Fred Baumgarth filed Jan. 6 to challenge Stegman. He ran unsuccessfully against board Secretary Ed Ryan in 2019.

Stegman was first elected in 2005 and re-elected in 2009. No one filed to oppose her in 2015.

The race is set between Stegman and Baumgarth, since no one else filed to run.

Lindbergh school board

Two seats with three-year terms are up for election, and three candidates filed for the race.

The seats up for election belong to current board President Mike Shamia, who filed for re-election, and former board President Karen Schuster, who did not file to run again.

Schuster has served on the board since 2012, re-elected in 2015 and 2018. Shamia was elected to a one-year term in 2017, then a full three-year term in 2018.

Newcomers Megan Vedder and Khaled Jumean filed in addition to Shamia.

Mehlville school board

After a race with five candidates for three seats last year, a Mehlville school board election will not be held this year.

Two seats on the Mehlville Board of Education held by Tori Behlke and Lisa Messmer are up for election. Behlke and Messmer were both elected to their first term in 2018. Terms are three years.

On the first day of filing, Behlke filed to run again.

Newcomer Patrick McKelvey also filed. As an Oakville High senior in 2014, he fought against budget cuts. He is not related to teachers’ union president Deana McKelvie.

Crestwood

Board of Aldermen seats held by Mimi Duncan in Ward 1, Justin Charboneau in Ward 2, Scott Shipley in Ward 3 and Ismaine Ayouaz in Ward 4 are up for election. Terms are three years.

Incumbents Duncan and Ayouaz did not file to run again. The four candidates who filed, one in each ward, are each unopposed: Jesse Morrison filed in Ward 1, Charboneau in Ward 2, Shipley in Ward 3 and John Sebben in Ward 4.

Grantwood Village

Three seats on the Grantwood Village Board of Trustees will be up for election. The seats held by Chairman Kevin Kelso, Public Works Commissioner Mark Kienstra and Building Commissioner Rick Wagner are on the ballot.

Kelso, Kienstra and Wagner all filed to run again along with Kurt Voss, so the four candidates will run for three seats. 

Green Park

The Green Park mayoral post will be up for election for a two-year term. Mayor Tim Thuston was elected in 2019. Thuston filed to run again and will be challenged by Ward 1 Alderman Michael Broughton, who also filed to run for mayor.

Four seats are up for election: The Ward 1 seats held by Broughton and Esad Softic, along with the Ward 2 seat held by Matthew Farwig and the Ward 3 seat held by Joe Monteleone.

Softic, Farwig and Monteleone filed for election to their seats, while former Ward 1 Alderman Carol Hamilton filed in Ward 1.

Softic was just appointed to his seat last year, and that term has one year left, while the other aldermanic seats carry two-year terms.

Sunset Hills

Four seats, one from each ward, will be up for two-year terms in Sunset Hills, and this year all four races will be competitive, with no longtime incumbents running again.

The Ward 1 seat held by Joe Stewart, who was appointed last fall by Mayor Pat Fribis, will be up for election. Seats held by Steve Bersche in Ward 2, Nathan Lipe in Ward 3 and Mark Colombo in Ward 4 will be up for election. Bersche, Lipe and Colombo are not seeking re-election and did not file for their seats.

Stewart filed for his Ward 1 seat, which had been held by Dee Baebler since 2009. Former Ward 1 Alderman Frank Hardy filed to challenge Stewart for the board again.

Christine Lieber and Marie Davis filed to run in Ward 2.

Andrew Tolch and Randy Epperson filed to run in Ward 3.

Fred Daues and Bruce Studer filed in Ward 4. Keith Meier had filed to run in Ward 4, but withdrew his name by email Jan. 14, City Administrator Brittany Gillett said.

More to Discover