Filing For Office in Lakeville Open: Candidates Have Until Aug. 14

While a number of candidates have tossed their hats into the ring and announced their intention to run for local offices such as mayor, city council and school board, nobody's made it official.

At least not until today.

The official filing period for local offices, which will appear on the Nov. 6 general election, opened today. The filing period lasts two weeks and runs through 5 p.m. on Aug. 14.

In total, there are six local seats up for grabs between the city and schools.

Three seats on the Lakeville Area School Board up for election, and of those, two incumbents—Judy Keliher and Bob Erickson—say they'll be running again. Kathy Lewis has not announced her decision to run again. All three seats have four-year term.

Meanwhile at the city, the mayoral seat, which is a two-year term, is up for election, and incumbent Mayor Mark Bellows has said he's running again. There are also two city council seats being sought after, which both carry four-year terms. Incumbents Kerrin Swecker and Laurie Rieb haven't announced their intentions as of yet.

For school board, affidavits of candidacy are available at the . It costs $2 to file, and candidates must be an eligible voter, 21 years of age or more on assuming office, have been a resident of the school district for 30 days before the general election and have no other affidavit on file for any other office at the same primary or next ensuing general election, according to the school district.

For city governemnt seats, candidates must be at least 21 years old and eligible to vote in Lakeville. The filing fee is $5. Those who submit an affidavit of candidacy will be given a comprehensive candidate packet, according to the city. The affadavit is available at .