The first candidate plans to file Monday morning for the City Council seat John Wester is vacating.
Marty Gister says that while Henderson “needs some improvements, it is still a great place to live.”
Marty Gister announced his intentions to run for the Ward 3 ward seat in a news release today. He said he intends to file the paperwork between 9 and 10 a.m. Monday.
Wester has held that seat for more than a decade, making him tops in seniority on the council, but he opted to file for Ward 3’s at-large seat Friday. Elissa Yount holds the at-large seat, elected by voters throughout the city, and she is expected to file for re-election.
Gister, his wife, Beth, and their two sons live just inside Ward 3 on Granite Street. The ward border runs down the middle of that street.
The Gisters gained prominence in the past year during a successful struggle to get a lower speed limit and speed humps along their block.
Gister also is a frequent poster on HomeinHenderson.com, where he has shared many observations from his attendance at council meetings.
In his candidate announcement, Gister said he “hopes to bring a perspective of a hard working American that has been hit hard by the nation’s economy, then had to struggle while the local economy failed to recover.”
Gister explained that he lost his job four years ago and wound up going to Vance-Granville Community College for retraining. In May he received an associate’s degree in nursing, and he said Duke University Medical Center has hired him.
Gister wrote that although he “is no stranger to the local social service agencies and the humility it takes to ask for help,” he “hopes to bring a positive attitude that proves that with hard work anything can be accomplished.”
One accomplishment the pending candidate plans to achieve within a year is to pay off the current and past-due property taxes on his Granite Street home. Gister blamed his long unemployment for the overdue taxes and said he “believes that the people of Henderson will understand his reasons for the delay in payment.”
He also has a plan for the city’s property tax rate, which rose 3 cents to 67 cents per $100 valuation this month. Gister said savings can be found in the city budget to avoid the need for tax increases, water and sewer rate hikes, or higher sanitation fees in the foreseeable future.
One area for savings is sanitation. Gister advocates the proposal to switch to once-a-week curbside garbage and recycling collection by the city Public Works Department. Gister said that change would save the city $140,000 a year.
Gister said he wants to hold candidate forums throughout Ward 3 to let voters ask questions, and he invites organizations interested in playing host to such forums or individuals with questions to contact him at 431-1652 or owensec@vance.net.
No one else has announced plans to run for the ward seat in Ward 3, but other candidates are likely. The filing period for candidates runs until Aug. 5 at noon. The nonpartisan municipal elections are Oct. 11.
Aside from Wester, council incumbents Mary Emma Evans, Bernard Alston and Mike Rainey and Evans challenger Glean Henderson Jr. have filed to run. Aside from Yount, Mayor Clem Seifert and council members Harriette Butler (Ward 2), Lonnie Davis (Ward 4) and Ranger Wilkerson (Ward 4) have not filed or made any announcements about the election.