When the filing for the April 4, 2017, municipal election opens Dec. 13, there's a good chance incumbent 4th Ward Councilman Carlos Graham will be first in line. He'll make it official he is seeking another two-year term on the Jefferson City Council.
And chances are just as good if not better Ron L. Fitzwater will be right behind Graham, completing the paperwork to establish his candidacy for the other 4th Ward seat on the council, a one-year term.
Fitzwater will be formally filing for the opening created at the Nov. 28 council meeting when Graham read a brief but dramatic letter of resignation from former councilman Glen Costales.
The sequence of events was triggered by Costales' very personal decision his presence and attention were needed not at City Hall but at a Springdale, Arkansas, hospice where his older brother Ben is confined. "Due to his brother's declining health and his desire to be with him as much as possible, Councilman Costales is resigning from the City Council, effective at the end of this month," Graham advised the other members of the city's governing body. The withdrawal became official Nov. 30, City Clerk Phyllis Powell confirmed.
Fast forward to today, almost a week after Costales' resignation.
Graham and Fitzwater are planning on putting their names on the ballot for the 4th Ward's two seats on the council.
That seems a certainty.
Enter Mayor Carrie Tergin, herself a 4th Ward resident. She told the News Tribune she has heard from Fitzwater, who has had no reservations about publicizing his interest in the Costales' seat on the council. Tergin also admits to having heard from at least three other potential candidates seeking her advice and counsel in consideration of a 4th Ward bid. Those other three, however, asked the mayor to keep their identity a secret for the time being.
Not so for Fitzwater, a former 10-year chairman of the Cole County Republican Central Committee and the chief executive officer of the Missouri Pharmacy Association since June 2002.
He's lived in the Fourth Ward more than 12 years, in a house he and his wife, Karen, built on Nob Hill Road on the western fringe of Jefferson City. They fell in love with Jefferson City when they arrived from Columbia, South Carolina.
The Fitzwaters are the parents of three children. Jeffrey is in California, Travis is in Holts Summit and Melody is in St. Augustine, Florid. The three and their spouses have nine children. Travis Fitzwater is the state representative from the 49th District.
Ron Fitzwater already serves the city on three bodies - the planning and zoning commission, the transportation and traffic commission, and the community improvement district at the Capital Mall. "If there is a place to serve, if I can serve, I want to serve," Fitzwater said.
Tergin said Friday she endorses Graham's re-election in the strongest terms but will not endorse another candidate - for the time being. "The citizens of the 4th Ward will be well served by Carlos in these coming months. I have complete confidence in him," she said.
The mayor said she cannot speak now for what the council may or may not do about naming an interim member to serve before the April election. Under the City Charter, council vacancies are to be filled by a majority of remaining council members until the next municipal general election.
The next municipal election will be April 4, 2017.