The big race in Ripon come the November election will apparently be the one for City Council.
According to City Clerk Lisa Roos, six qualified candidates including the three incumbents – in this case, Mayor Jake Parks, Leo Zuber and Mark Winchell, who was provisionally appointed to his post in January 2015 following the sudden passing of Elden ‘Red’ Nutt – filed prior to Friday’s nomination of candidates deadline.
“Our filing period ended on Thursday (since we’re closed on Fridays),” she said.
The challengers are Ripon business owner John Mangelos, engineer Daniel De Graaf, and retired police officer Mario Gonzales.
Information on all six candidates will be available for the 10-day viewing period at Ripon City Hall, 259 N. Wilma Ave., beginning Monday.
The San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters office said that the Ripon Unified school board race has two candidates.
Both could be automatically appointed to their posts if unchallenged.
Incumbent Mike Fisher, as of Friday afternoon, had yet to file for his seat in Trustee Area 4. Instead, Caroline Hutto, who is listed as a parent / business owner, was only one in the running for the school board representative for southwest Ripon.
Christina Orlando, who is also an incumbent, was uncontested in re-upping on her Trustee Area 5 post.
In addition, Don Wever and Tamra Spade appeared on their way towards an automatic appointment for the Ripon Consolidated Fire District board as well as Harrison Gibbs.
Wever and Spade are seeking the two four-year terms while Gibbs is going for the short two-year term.
All three are incumbents.
For more information, log on to www.sjcrov.org.