Four people entered their names into the race for the recently vacated Ward 5 seat on the Bemidji City Council.
Ward 5’s representative for nearly 20 years Nancy Erickson resigned a day after a heated council meeting over the future of the Sanford Center more than two months ago.
Erickson resigned less than a year into her fourth four-year term.
The four people who submitted are Lynn Eaton, a civil engineer with Widseth, Smith, Nolting & Associates; Don Heinonen, who ran against Erickson in 2020 and works at JCS Services; Bill Batchelder, lifetime Bemidji resident and owner of the Bemidji Woolen Mills, and Micaiah Graham.
Filing opened yesterday and will close on Tuesday, Dec. 14, at 5 p.m.
Interested candidates will need to submit a $5 filing fee and live in Bemidji’s Ward 5 or Nymore district.
The primary special election will take place on Feb. 8, and if no candidate wins more than 50 percent of the vote, the two candidates with the most votes will move on to a secondary special election in August.
