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

Roby to challenge Schlink for Crestwood mayoral post

Candidate filing concludes for April 8 election

A former alderman is challenging Crestwood Mayor Jeff Schlink in the Tuesday, April 8, election.

Former Ward 3 Alderman Gregg Roby was the only challenger to file to face Schlink in the April election.

Filing for the April 8 election for municipal and school-board seats ended at 5 p.m. Tuesday.

Besides Crestwood, Ward 1 voters in Sunset Hills will have a choice in the April election, as will voters in Lindbergh Schools and the Mehlville School District.

In Crestwood, Schlink will be listed first on the ballot for mayor, with Roby second. The seat carries a three-year term.

Over the past year, Roby has attended meetings of the Crestwood Board of Aldermen and publicly disagreed with the approach Schlink and the current Board of Aldermen have taken toward the redevelopment of the former Crestwood Court mall site.

Schlink defeated Roy Robinson in the 2011 mayoral race, 65.1 percent to 34.7 percent. Roby once held the Ward 3 seat now held by Paul Duchild. Roby ran unopposed for the seat in 2006 and did not run for re-election in 2009, when Duchild was elected.

In Grantwood Village, Board of Trustees seats held by Patricia Williams and Paul Pfeiffer are up for election. The seats carry two-year terms.

Williams and Sue Ehrhardt filed for the April 8 election.

All three incumbents up for election on the Green Park Board of Aldermen are unopposed. The seats carry two-year terms.

Carol Hamilton of Ward 1, Jackie Wilson of Ward 2 and board President Fred Baras of Ward 3 filed.

In Sunset Hills, Mayor Bill Nolan filed for re-election. He was first elected to the post in 2010 and re-elected in 2012.

Ward 2 Alderman Thomas Musich, Ward 1 Alderman Richard Gau and Ward 4 Alderman Art Havener filed for re-election.

Also filing in Ward 1 was former Alderman Doug McGuire.

In Ward 3, Kurt Krueger filed for election. He was appointed to the board last year after the resignation of Stephen Webb.

City Collector Mike Sawicki also filed for re-election. All the Sunset Hills seats carry two-year terms.

All the incumbents up for re-election on the Lindbergh Board of Education filed their paperwork to run again.

The three-year seats up for election include those belonging to board President Kathleen Kienstra, board Vice President Don Bee and board member Vicki Englund. Englund, a Democrat, also represents District 94 in the Missouri House.

Also filing for three-year seats were Cori Akins and Al Faulstich.

Newcomers Gary Ujka, Christopher A. Clegg and Daniel Sampson filed to run for the two-year term remaining on the seat that had been held by former board President Vic Lenz.

Longtime educator Lenz, who had held his seat on the board for nine years, was re-elected for another three-year term last April.

Over the summer, however, Gov. Jay Nixon appointed Lenz to the Missouri Board of Education, and Lenz resigned his post on the Lindbergh board.

The board appointed former board member Mark Rudoff, who had previously served for 13 years, to Lenz’s seat until April’s election.

Rudoff was one of three applicants for the seat, including Ujka. Rudoff said he will not run for the seat.

Seats held by Mehlville Board of Education President Mark Stoner, board Secretary Rich Franz and Elaine Powers are up for election. Stoner and Powers did not file for re-election, while Franz filed Tuesday.

Former board President Venki Palamand was first in line at the district office to file.

He was narrowly defeated last April by current board Vice President Lori Trakas, 32.28 percent to 30.93 percent, following board member Larry Felton’s 36.3 percent.

Palamand was elected in 2007 alongside Felton, who is now the board’s longest-serving member. Palamand was elected president of the board in 2011 and held that post until his defeat last spring.

All the seats carry three-year terms.

Besides Franz and Palamand, Samantha Stormer, Jean Pretto and Randy L. Howard filed.

All the seats carry three-year terms.