Three of the four races for Little Rock Board of Directors seats up for election this November will be contested.
Little Rock voters will choose the Ward 4 director and three at-large directors on Election Day, Nov. 8. The remaining six ward seats on the board, as well as the mayor's position, will be up for election in 2018.
All three incumbents to the at-large positions are seeking re-election, but Ward 4 Director Brad Cazort, who has held his seat for 20 years, announced earlier this summer that he is not.
"When I first ran 20 years ago I anticipated that I would serve for one or two terms. I am now in the final year of my fifth term. I did not expect or plan to achieve this tenure. My last three elections have not drawn an opponent. I don't know if it was because I was doing a really good job or doing it so badly that I had alienated others from wanting to get involved," he said at the time. "I strongly considered stepping aside four years ago, but was persuaded to run again. I do know that it is time to turn this position over to others who may want to serve our city as Ward 4 director."
Three people are vying for the Ward 4 seat: Roy Brooks, president of education consulting firm Brooks and Associates Inc.; Capi Peck, owner of Trio's restaurant; and Jeff Yates, managing partner at ARK Commercial and Investment Real Estate.
Peck is a member of the city's Advertising and Promotion Commission, which is the governing body of the Convention and Visitors Bureau. Brooks was formerly the superintendent of the Little Rock School District before a contentious split vote by the district's board to fire him in 2007. Yates served as the real-estate consultant to the Little Rock Technology Park Authority Board when the group was deciding where to locate the tech park.
Ward 4 borders Wards 3, 5 and 6. The ward extends west from Mississippi Street and south of Cantrell Road to reach past Interstate 430 to Pinnacle Valley Road on the ward's west end. The ward stretches north from both Markham Street and the eastern portion of Mara Lynn Drive and north and east of Hinson Road to the Arkansas River.
Ward maps are available on the city's website, littlerock.org.
Board members that are elected at-large represent the entire city.
Dean Kumpuris, who has been an at-large director for 21 years, is the only Little Rock board candidate who does not face a rival in his race.
Incumbent At-large Director Gene Fortson, who has been on the board for 10 years, is running for re-election against Clayton Johnson, a teacher at Premier High School of Little Rock, a charter school, and Jason Ferguson, the senior pastor at First Christian Church of Sherwood.
City Director Joan Adcock, the longest serving city board member who has held her at-large spot for 24 years, will run against Molly Miller, cessation coordinator for the Arkansas Department of Health's Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Branch.
Little Rock City Clerk Susan Langley has confirmed that the signatures on each candidate's petitions to run for the board positions are valid, meaning each signer is a registered voter.
Six other potential candidates had turned in applications to seek city director positions but didn't submit required forms before Friday's noon deadline: June Matheny, Chris Corbitt and Kathryn Searcy for Ward 4; and JoAnn Coleman, Bernard Hochstetter and Antwan Phillips for at-large seats.
City directors are paid $18,000 a year. Each position is for a four-year term. The mayor serves as an eleventh member of the city board with veto power, but he can only vote in the event of a tie.
Metro on 08/20/2016