Residents of Byrnes Mill will go to the polls on April 7 to elect a mayor and members of the Board of Aldermen, but their only choice will be for mayor.
The incumbent mayor, Susan Gibson, is running for her third two-year term but faces a challenge by Devon K. Ising.
The mayoral job is unpaid.
Ising did not return a Leader candidate questionnaire.
Half of the seats on the city’s Board of Aldermen also will be on the ballot, but in each case, the incumbent will begin a new two-year term as no one filed to challenge them: Robert Prado in Ward 1, Jerry Klipsch in Ward 2 and Mary Scheble in Ward 3.
GIBSON, 66, lives at 3751 S. Lakeshore Drive. She has a daughter and a grandson.
A retired special education teacher from the Special School District of St. Louis County, she has a bachelor’s degree in special education and elementary education from the University of Missouri-Columbia and a master’s degree in counseling from the University of Missouri-St. Louis.
She has served on the board of her neighborhood association for five years, including two years as president and has been a member of the Byrnes Mill Improvement Committee. She has been market manager of the Byrnes Mill Farmers Market for four years and is a member of the High Ridge Rotary Club.
What are the biggest problems facing the city and how would you address them?
Gibson: Currently the city is in pretty good shape and not facing any serious problems, but we do have some decisions to make. The major decision is if we want to give the go-ahead on the cooperative lead abatement project with the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. That will depend on what the Board of Aldermen and residents decide after a series of open meetings.
How would you assess the performance of the city government over the past year?
Gibson: Our City Council is a hard-working group of individuals willing to give their time and energy to the city. They are all individuals with their own opinions but able to compromise and complete work. The major project over the last few years has been to make the many decisions involved in building a new city hall. That was completed in October 2013. They also continued to work on updating and or improving city codes. They were also involved in the dismissal of a police chief and the hiring of Chief Gary Dougherty. Currently they are working to see if it will be possible to increase the scope of our street maintenance.
Why should voters elect you to this position? List your goals, if elected.
Gibson: I have fulfilled many of the promises I made when I first ran for office:
■ All records are now electronic.
■ We have good employees in key positions.
■ Our employees now have salaries and benefits in line with cities our size.
■ We have improved all policy and practices and codes, which are available on our website.
■ We stabilized the sewer financing and instituted yearly audits.
■ All city records are transparent and accessible.
■ We communicate with timely newsletters.
■ Several improvements have been made in our park, including a playground.
My goal is to develop a new 20-year plan, preceded by a survey of residents.