Kenai Peninsula residents who wish to hold elected office still have a few days to file their candidacy for all of the municipal elections taking place this year.
The filing period for municipal elections in the Kenai Peninsula Borough, as well as the cities of Kenai and Soldotna, closes on Aug. 17. There are a number of seats up for grabs this year at all levels of local government.
The City of Kenai will be holding elections for two city council positions, both of which are three-year terms.
The City of Soldotna will be holding an election for the mayor’s seat as well as two seats on the city council, all of which are three-year terms.
At the borough level, the mayor’s seat and three seats on the borough assembly are up for election. The assembly seats that are open this year represent Kenai, Sterling/Funny River and Homer. There are also four seats up for election on the Kenai Peninsula School District’s Board of Education, representing Nikiski, Soldotna, the east peninsula and the central peninsula. Each of the seats are three-year terms, with the exception of the east peninsula school board seat, which is a two-year term.
The following service area boards also have open seats:
Bear Creek Fire Service Area (one)
Joint Operations Board for Central Peninsula Emergency Medical Service Area & Central Emergency Services Area Board (one)
Nikiski Fire Service Area (two)
North Peninsula Recreation Service Area (one)
Seward-Bear Creek Flood Service Area (one)
South Kenai Peninsula Hospital Service Area (four)
Residents can file for any of these seats as long as they are at least 21 years old and have lived on the Kenai Peninsula for at least a year. For the citywide elections, candidates must have lived in that city for at least a year.
Voting day for all municipal elections is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 6.
The candidate applications can be found online at Kpb.us (Borough), Kenai.city (Kenai) or Soldotna.org.
