Stewart Nelson

As I have never run for public office I am a bit mystified by the whole political process. In order to get on the official ballot, I needed 100 signatures from registered voters in Ward 2. Thanks to those of you that signed. Seems like many people thought I was trying to steal their identities and would not sign and I have heard some horror stories about candidates not getting their Nominating Petition in one time, signing and dating it wrong or any number of things that can make the signatures invalid. I pride myself on my organization skills and diligence so I went to great length to make sure my petitions were submitted on time and correctly. After much unnecessary anxiety, I got the call from the City Clerk’s office after only 4 hours of waiting and I am now an official candidate for City Council in Ward 2.

Very efficient job by the City Clerk’s Office.

As I get into this campaign more and more I am finding that we are blessed as a City to have such great and talented people staffing our City offices and getting the jobs done despite budget and staffing cuts. My hat’s off to them. I have been trying to get out and meet as many of them as I can. Last week I met with Mark Lloyd of Planning and Zoning. Mark is an amazing person that seems to be responsible for almost everything! You may recognize him as the person that magically appears on CTN when council members have a question on a building or zoning issue. Turns out that he wears a lot more hats than we know and I wonder how he has time to get it all done. Thanks Mark for a job well done.