By Pat Jenkins The Dispatch Eatonville Town Councilman Brenden Pierce's decision to not seek re-election this year completes a turnover of every elected office at town hall in the past four years. Conversely, the status quo for two local school boards appears to be set after recent candidate filings for this fall's election. Pierce didn't sign up during the May 11-15 filing period. He's the only incumbent left on the council since those offices, as well as mayor and treasurer, began changing hands in 2011. That year, Abby Gribi was elected to a council seat whose incumbent, Bobby Allison, didn't run for re-election. Then: " In 2012, Jim Valentine resigned from the council and James Schrimpsher was appointed to replace him. " Last year, Ray Harper didn't seek another term as mayor and instead ran for a council seat for which then-councilman Bob Schaub didn't seek re-election. Harper lost to Bob Walter. Mike Schaub was elected mayor, giving up his office of town treasurer in the process. Lori Smith was appointed to replace him as treasurer. And Gordon Bowman, who ran for mayor rather than another term on the council, was replaced by Andy Powell, the only candidate who ran for the seat Bowman was giving up. Robert Thomas and Nick Junka are candidates in this November's general election to replace Pierce, finishing the churn. Pierce has been a councilman since 2007. The rest of the town's elected leaders will stand pat. Gribi and Schrimpsher are seeking re-election, both with no opponents. Ditto for Smith, who is pursuing her first full term as treasurer. Similarly, six Bethel and Eatonville school board seats each have a single candidates. All are incumbents, so the boards are assured of no changes, barring any write-in campaigns, which are rare and rarely successful. Brenda Rogers, John Manning and Amy Pivetta Hoffman are the Bethel incumbents headed for new four-year terms. Hoffman temporarily had an opponent when Rick Payne filed to run against her but later withdrew his candidacy for what would have been a rematch of their race in 2013, when Hoffman was elected for the first time with 72 percent of the votes in her favor. Rogers and Manning have been board members since 2003 and 2007, respectively. The Eatonville School Board incumbents with an open path to new four-year terms are Paulette Gilliardi, who has 14 years in office, Roger Andrascik (five years) and Jeff Lucas (three years).
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