General Election sees open mayor, council seats

July 22, 2022 — City of Florence residents interested in becoming the municipality’s next mayor or city councilor have until Monday, Aug. 15, to file their preliminary petitions for office with the city. The Lane County filing deadline is Aug. 30.

The Nov. 8 General Election will have three positions on the Florence City Council: mayor, a two-year term, and two councilors, four-year terms.

As of July, there are two candidates for mayor: Joshua Greene and Rob Ward.

For councilor, voters will be asked to select two of the candidates. Right now, there are four: Maggie Bagon, Jo Beaudreau, Robert Carp and Donna Cherryholmes.

The mayor and councilors are volunteers who serve as the governing body for the City of Florence. The city council works as a collective body to pass laws, fees, policies, budget and to supervise the city manager and municipal court judge positions.

In order to be versed enough to make such decisions, serving on the council requires countless hours of study into the pressing issues of the City of Florence, as well as attendance at regular meetings, work sessions and other external meetings where the councilor/mayor will represent the city and its interests.

The mayor is the presiding officer of the city council and thus officiates city council meetings in order to preserve order. The mayor also works directly with the city manager to determine the order of business of city council meeting agendas and serves as the figurehead for the City of Florence.

For more information about the Florence election, visit www.ci.florence.or.us/citymanager/2022-election-city-councilors-mayor.

For information on the election in Lane County, visit www.lanecounty.org/elections.