Incumbents, challengers file for upcoming elections

T. J. ROYAL

Of the more than 30 municipal candidates up for reelection this year, six incumbents, and one challenger, officially declared their candidacies Monday.

Rick Page of Tarboro, who retired in February as Tarboro's utility director, was the lone challenger who placed his name on the ballot during the first day of filing Monday with the Board of Elections at the Edgecombe County Administration Building in Tarboro.

Page is running for the Ward 3 seat on Tarboro Town Council, currently held by Danny Hayes, who has said previously he will not seek reelection.

Running for Town Council has been "something I've been interested in since I've been retired, and it felt like the right thing to do," Page said on Monday. It allows him to have his "name in the pot first" by filing on the first day, he said, and that he looks forward to a challenge for the ward seat should the incumbent or another challenger file before noon on July 17, the last day to file.

Tarboro's incumbents who filed Monday included Mayor Donald Morris, Ward 1 Councilman Buck Price and Ward 5 Councilman John Jenkins.

Macclesfield Mayor Mike Keel, Conetoe Commissioner Wilson Jones and Rocky Mount Ward 3 Councilman Lamont Wiggins also filed for their races at the Administration Building Monday.

Price said that, although he decided to file Monday, it's a "long wait" until the Tarboro municipal election on Nov. 3. "In a way, I'm kind of dreading it from now to November. ... I'd like to go ahead and say, sign up today and vote Saturday," Price said.

If reelected, though, Price said "I am looking forward to (serving the public) if I get in there."

Jenkins said that he filed Monday so that he could "get it out of the way" so he could attend to his business affairs. As an appraiser, "when you've got your own business, you've got to keep working," Jenkins added.

All of Edgecombe County's municipal elections, except for Rocky Mount, will take place Nov. 3. Rocky Mount's municipal election is scheduled for Oct. 6.