Election filing opened at 8 a.m. Feb. 6 and within a few hours, four current office holders announced their intentions to run for public office.

Chris Fielder, current Place 5 Leander city councilman, filed to run for mayor in the May 12 election. In doing so, Fielder forfeited his council seat, Leander City Secretary Debbie Haile said. Leander's charter dictates an automatic "resign to run" rule when a City Council member runs for a different public office. Haile said the city will hold a special election for Fiedler's unexpired one-year term, but Fielder may continue to serve on the council until the election in May.

John Cowman is the mayor of Leander. His term expires in May.

Fielder has served on the Leander City Council for the last five years and was mayor pro tem from June 2008 to September 2011.

"Over the next couple of months, I will outline my plan as mayor to provide more transparency and information to the citizens of Leander, more details on our water and tax rates, and information on how we can have a positive impact on these," Fielder said. "I also want to develop a plan to attract more jobs to help increase our daytime population so we can get more quality of life items like restaurants and entertainment."

Leander Place 4 City Councilwoman Michell Cantwell filed for re-election. Cantwell will be opposed by Jerry Perez.

In Cedar Park, Mayor Bob Lemon filed for re-election. Cedar Park Place 6 City Councilman Don Tracy also filed for re-election to his City Council spot.

The Leander Independent School Distirct board of trustees has two seats up grabs this May, Place 1 and Place 2, currently held by Lisa Mallory and Don Hisle. No one has filed for those positions, said Cathy Arnold, assitant to the superintendent. Wednesday was the first day to submit candidate packets to the distrirct.