Woodside: Uncontested election for council seats Woodside: Uncontested election for council seats (August 31, 2005)

** Council to fill fourth seat by appointment.

By Andrea Gemmet

Almanac Staff Writer

It appears that the only available seat on the Woodside Town Council where the outcome isn't a foregone conclusion is in District 1, where there's no election at all.

Council seats representing three of Woodside's seven political districts are up for election in November -- in districts 2, 4 and 6. Woodside council members must reside in the district they represent, although they are elected in a townwide vote.

In all three races, the candidates are running uncontested. They are: District 2 incumbent Deborah Gordon, who is completing her first four-year term; District 6 two-term incumbent Carroll Ann Hodges; and in District 4, Dave Tanner. Mr. Tanner has represented District 1 since September 1999, but had to resign from the council earlier this month when he sold his house and moved to a new one in District 4.

The District 4 incumbent, Joe Putnam, announced August 9 that he would not seek a third term on the council in order to spend more time with his grandchildren.

The only real question mark on the council is who will be appointed to fill Mr. Tanner's now vacant District 1 seat. So far, Ron Romines, a Woodside Glens resident, has said he intends to apply.

The council is set to interview applicants at a special meeting on Tuesday, September 6. At the meeting, the council will also decide when to hold an election for the District 1 seat.

Council members must decide between a special election in April that will cost the town an estimated $20,000, or to wait for the regularly scheduled election in November 2007 and allow an appointee to serve for more than two years.

The application deadline is August 31. For information, contact Town Clerk Janet Koelsch at 851-6790.

It is town policy to hold an election even if candidates run uncontested, in case a write-in candidate decides to run. The filing period for write-in candidates opens September 12 and ends at 5 p.m. on October 25.

E-mail a friend a link to this story.