And they are (almost) off

The Chico City Clerk’s Office reports that, facing an Aug. 13 deadline, 10 people have shown varying degrees of commitment toward running for the three City Council seats open this fall.

Those who’ve qualified with the required 20 valid signatures of registered voters are incumbents Mayor Scott Gruendl and Vice Mayor Mark Sorensen; along with Andrew Coolidge, who ran two years ago; Rodney Willis, who ran a decade ago; and first-timers Loretta Torres, Forough Molina and Reanette Fillmer.

City Clerk Debbie Presson said other possible candidates—those who’d taken out papers but had not returned them by the CN&R’s deadline—are Lupe Arim-Law, Dave Donnan and Wes Holt. (Donnan posted a message on Fillmer’s Facebook page saying he was not running.) The third incumbent, Councilwoman Mary Goloff, is not seeking re-election.

The deadline to file paperwork was 5 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 13, after this paper’s press time.