PTC qualifying starts Monday for mayor, 3 open seats on city council | The Citizen

If you’ve been thinking about running for mayor or one of the four open Peachtree City council posts, time is running out to mull it over.

The city’s qualifying period begins Monday at 8:30 a.m. at City Hall.

Up for grabs are the mayor’s seat, four-year terms on the Post 3 and Post 4 seats and a little more than two years on the Post 2 seat.

While a field of five have congregated with previous announcements to seek the mayor’s spot, only one candidate has announced for each of the other council seats. Retiree Mike King has chosen the Post 2 race for the shortened term, incumbent Councilmember Kim Learnard will seek re-election for her Post 3 seat and former Peachtree City police captain Terry Ernst will seek the Post 4 seat.

While the field is slim for council, Peachtree City doesn’t have a shortage of mayoral aspirants. Incumbent mayor Don Haddix is facing a challenge from current Councilmembers Vanessa Fleisch and George Dienhart, former mayor Harold Logsdon and local businessman Ryan Jolly.

Dienhart is abdicating the two years and change left on his Post 2 seat and Fleisch is declining to seek re-election to her current Post 4 seat. She is allowed to finish her term on council because even if she wins the mayor’s race, her term expires before she would be sworn in as mayor.

With a field of five, however, the only thing that’s a near certainty is the need for a runoff election on Dec. 3.

With five candidates in the field, it’s quite unlikely one of them will garner 50 percent of the vote. A runoff election would pit the two top vote-getters against each other.

via PTC qualifying starts Monday for mayor, 3 open seats on city council | The Citizen.