Positions on Moraga's town council and school board will be open for election this November. On the council, Mayor Dave Trotter will be running for a fourth term. Vice Mayor Teresa Onoda's seat in also up for election but she has not decided yet if she will run or not. She said that she has a lot of balls in the air and will decide after she has the information she needs to make a good decision. She adds that she has tried to give Moraga 100 percent of her time and energy and will not go into four more years without being sure that she can make that kind of commitment again. Thirty-year Moraga resident Steve Woehleke is also running for the council. His longtime involvement with the town includes tenures on the Design Review Board, Planning Commission and Hacienda Foundation board of directors. He already has a website: www.steve4moraga.com.
Two Moraga school board incumbents, Heather O'Donnell and Jim Obsitnik, said they would not run again. The third, Jon Nickens, did not answer our inquiry.
Running mandates filing. The open period to file started on July 16 and will end on Aug. 10. The process involves making an appointment with Marty McInturf, town clerk. She explains that it takes her about an hour to go through the paperwork with a new candidate and that the process can be daunting. The Fair Political Practices Commission requires filing of three different forms. The FPPC provides information at http://www.fppc.ca.gov/learn/campaign-rules/candidate-toolkit-getting-started.html. The candidate also needs nomination papers from at least 20 registered voters, and has to provide a declaration of candidacy. McInturf says that a statement is optional. Candidates must return to the town offices to file their papers. The town does not charge a filing fee, but the county asks for $269 for printing costs.
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