Tom Bozarth unopposed for re-election as mayor; ex-mayor Becky Moore among council candidates

After changing his mind and filing for re-election last week, Midway Mayor Tom Bozarth is running unopposed in the Nov. 2 election for a second four-year term. But when the new City Council is sworn in next January, he may be joined at the table by a former mayor with a somewhat different attitude.

Becky Moore, who was mayor for two terms before Bozarth and didn't seek re-election in 2006, is one of seven candidates running for six council seats. She said in an interview that the other two non-incumbent candidates for council, Joye Arnold and Dan Roller, are "kindred spirits" who like her have been heavily involved in volunteer activities in the town. Some volunteers have been rankled by a ordinance, backed by Bozarth and passed 5-1 by the council, that formalized volunteer work on city property.

Two council members, Charlann Wombles and Sandra Cooke, did not file for re-election. Incumbents filing were Sharon Turner, Diana Queen, Doris Leigh and Aaron Hamilton. Turner said she prepared filing papers for both council and mayor, in case Bozarth did not seek re-election, and didn't know until she went to file at the county clerk's office last Tuesday, the filing deadline, that he had filed.

Bozarth had told a group a few days earlier that he would not run. He said in an interview after tonight's council meeting, "I had no intentions to run. I had some things I wanted to do ... but I was approached by some people I respect in the community who talked to me and asked me to run again." He declined to name them, but said they are "people who have been in the community a long time," and number more than two. He also declined to say if he would have supported a mayoral candidate if had not filed.