The city of Montgomery and Montgomery ISD will have some familiar personalities in charge following the cancellation of their respective elections.
Even though the mayor and City Council positions 6 and 7 were up for grabs, no opponents to sitting incumbents filed for election by the Feb. 23 write-in deadline. As a result, the Montgomery City Council canceled the May city election during its March 8 meeting.
The cancellation means incumbent Mayor Kirk Jones, Place 2 Council Member John Champagne Jr. and Place 4 Council Member Rebecca Huss will remain on the council until 2018.
Jones said retaining the positions will help the city bring continuity to its ongoing initiatives.
“The things that we deal with have a pretty high learning curve and getting caught up with what is going on and not having to replace personnel on the council is a benefit,” Jones said.
However, Jones said he would like to see more community involvement in city government.
“The [lack of participation] concerns me,” Jones said. “Either everybody is happy with the job that council is doing or there is a lack of interest.”
MISD also expects to cancel its election during its March 22 board meeting after only incumbents filed to run for positions 6 and 7 on the board of trustees. Position 6 is held by Ken Thomet, and Position 7 is held by Trish Mayne.
“[They] are two of our most senior board members,” Superintendent Beau Rees said. “The continuity of having senior board members adds some stability to the district leadership.”
The MISD election has not officially been canceled at presstime.