Mayoral, Council Candidates Set (With a Few New Names)

Today was the deadline for filing petitions to run in this fall's city elections, so we have a final slate of candidates for mayor and four City Council seats. As reported elsewhere in the last few days, former City Councilman Joe Hultquist is a surprise last-minute entrant to the mayor's race (nobody we've talked to takes him seriously as a contender, but Hultquist's aim seems to be to raise some issues he thinks should be discussed). A few new names showed up in Council races in recent days. As we noted Monday, Marshall Stair looks to make  the At-Large Seat B race interesting. So, too, does Tierney Bates, a young and well-liked UT administrator who ran for the District 2 Council seat in 2009. (Bates had picked up a candidate petition months ago, but just returned it this week.) Meanwhile, in the At-Large Seat A race, architectural designer Paul Berney has jumped into a crowded field that includes neighborhood activist John Stancil and local radio host Hubert Smith. Meanwhile, in the 5th District, conservationist (and, briefly, former county commissioner) Mark Campen drew no opponents at all and looks set to waltz right into the seat.