A crowded field of candidates are competing in what is now a hotly contested Pearland City Council race leading up to the May general election. Four positions are on the ballot—the mayor's seat, an incumbent council seat, an open council seat and a newly created council position. The candidate filing deadline for three of the four positions was Feb. 17. The filing period for council Position No. 5 is March 6. Election Day is May 6, according to the Texas Secretary of State. Voter registration ends on April 6, with early voting running from April 24 through May 2.

Mayoral race

Pearland Mayor Tom Reid is the longest-serving mayor of the city, serving from 1978-1990 and then from 1995 to the present. He is a former engineer who retired from the Johnson Space Center in 1997 after 32 years. He has also served the city in the past as a planning and zoning commissioner, a city council member, chair of the Pearland Library Board and chair of the Brazoria County Drainage District No. 4. Reid faces two challengers this election season. Quentin Wiltz, who has lived in Pearland for about 10 years, is running for the mayor's seat. He ran twice for city council, losing to council member Derrick Reed in 2015 and council member Tony Carbone in 2013. Wiltz was as ex-officio director for the Pearland Chamber of Commerce, ex-officio chair for the Pearland Parks and Beautification Board, and board member of the Brazoria County Alliance for Children, according to a release from his 2015 council bid. Wiltz currently serves as the director of commercial at Stupp Coating LLC, a pipeline coating company that services the oil and gas industry, according to his Linkedin profile. The second mayoral challenger is Jimi Amos, who is a resident of Shadow Creek Ranch. Amos is a process improvement manager for the e-commerce site of big box retailer Sam's Club. Amos received his MBA from Emory University and volunteers his time at Selfless4Africa.

Pearland City Council Position No. 3

The second seat on the ballot is held by incumbent city council member Gary Moore, who only faces one contestant. Moore has been a Pearland resident since 2004 and was elected to his first term in 2014. He was later appointed by council to serve as Mayor Pro Tem. Moore is a senior environmental technologist for Dow Chemical Corp., according to his Linkedin profile, who has served on the board of Keep Pearland Beautiful, as a Brazoria County election judge and on the board of the Willowick Home Owners Association, according to his official biography on the city of Pearland site. Moore's contestant is attorney J. Darnell Jones, a resident of west Pearland who lives near the Silverlake area. Jones is a retired from the military, serving in both the U.S. Army and Navy, the latter of which he served for 24 years. He is the owner of Houston-based Professional Services Ltd.

Pearland City Council Position No. 5

The third seat on the ballot is an open council seat currently held by council member Greg Hill, who announced his resignation from council in January. Hill will remain on council until his successor is elected. Two Pearland residents have thrown their name in the hat to fill the remainder of Hill's term, which will expire in 2019. The first contender is Jude Smith, a Geico Insurance staff attorney at the Galleria-based firm Levin & Clinebell and resident of Shadow Creek Ranch. Smith received his law degree in Ohio in 2010 and received his Texas license in 2014, according to the State Bar of Texas. Smith faces a challenge from James David Little, who is an attorney and certified public accountant, according to his Linkedin profile. Little is a University of Houston alumnus and law school graduated of the South Texas College of Law Houston. He received his law license in 1994, and his area of practice includes estate planning and probate law. Little runs his own firm, The Law Offices of J. David Little PC, near Old Townsite next door to the Pearland Premiere Cinema 6.

Pearland City Council Position No. 7

The fourth and final seat on the May general election ballot is the newly created council Position No. 7, which drew in six candidates. Sherry Stockwell was the first candidate to sign up for the position. Stockwell is a real estate broker and business owner. She has 30 years of experience in real estate and currently serves as a broker and partner at Alvin-based Kibbe Stockwell Properties. She is also the owner of the Reflection Bay Event Center in Shadow Creek Ranch, an owner at Pearland Med Spa and a board member of the Pearland Alliance for Arts and Culture. Stockwell is also the founder and president of Pearland-based nonprofit One World Foundation, which raises funds for international water projects, according to its site. The second candidate for the new council position is Bud Tollefsen, a full-time student at the University of Houston who is pursuing a bachelor's degree in supply chain logistics. He is also a recreation attendant for the city of Pearland, where he processes membership applications for the its Parks and Recreation Department, according to his Linkedin profile. Terry Gray, 73, is a longtime Pearland resident who served on city council from 1976-1978 and from 1980-1986. He made an unsuccessful bid for city council in 2016 for what was the newly created council Position No. 6, now held by council member Trent Perez. Gray lost in the 2015 runoff election by about 11 percentage points, or roughly 300 votes, according to the Brazoria County Clerk's Office. Longtime Pearland police officer Grover "Sonny" Atkins, who served the department for 36 years before retiring in late 2014, is running for city council. He currently serves as the chief of police for neighboring Brookside Village, which has a population of roughly 1,500. Atkins made an unsuccessful bid for Brazoria County Constable Pct. 3 in 2012, when he faced off longtime incumbent C. "Buck" Stevens in a Republican primary runoff election. Dalia Kasseb is a pharmacist, co-owner of Pyramids Pharmacy and Shadow Creek Ranch resident. Kasseb received her doctorate from the University of Louisiana at Monroe in 2010. She moved to Pearland in 2013 with her family to complete her pharmacy residency at CHI St. Luke's Health-Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center. Woody Owens is a former Pearland City Council member who served 12 years and retired from council in 2013 due to term limits, according to the Houston Chronicle, and was succeeded by council member Tony Carbone. Shortly thereafter, Owens made an unsuccessful bid for Pearland mayor in 2014, when he lost by nearly 40 percentage points, according to the Brazoria County Clerk's Office. He co-founded the Greater 288 Regional Partnership in 2010, which advocates for the development of the Hwy. 288 corridor, serves as a board member and is the organization's former vice chairman, according to its site. He is also the vice president of Houston-based Aztec Engineering Group Inc., according to his Linkedin profile. He has been a Pearland resident for roughly 30 years. Editor's Note: The story was updated to reflect that the filing period for council Position No. 5, which is on the ballot as a separate special election, ends on March 6, not March 3.