Dec. 15, 2004 - The Marana council members whose terms are about to expire will run unopposed for re-election in the March 8 primary. The Dec. 8 deadline has passed for any Marana resident who wished to challenge the four incumbents.
Vice Mayor Herb Kai and council members Patti Comerford, Tim Escobedo and Carol McGorray will each return to the dais for another term.
Marana council elections have gone uncontested since 2001, when Kai ran for re-election and Comerford, Escobedo and McGorray won their first terms on the council.
In addition, voter turnout for the elections has been low with less than 5 percent of registered voters in Marana casting a ballot in the past two elections.
Because of the low voter turnout, potential candidates needed only to collect between 13 and 25 signatures to have their names placed on the council ballot.
Only the four incumbents requested petitions to run for council.
Council members said no one has challenged the incumbents in recent elections because Marana residents are, for the most part, satisfied with their town government.
In an earlier interview Marana resident and former council member Roxanne Ziegler said she would have considered running if she could find two additional candidates to run with her.
She said it would be difficult for a single candidate to run against the current council because the members are "like-minded." Even if a single challenger was elected to the council, his or her voice would not be heard on the council, Ziegler said.
Kai and Escobedo both said the council members do not hesitate to express their points of view and vote as they see accordingly, however, they have learned how to avoid conflict on the dais.
