Crowded Field for Council Race

Nine Mount Pleasant residents have filed papers seeking four seats on the Town Council.

The deadline to file for the Nov. 8, 2011, race was Friday. Just one incumbent, Paul Gawrych, opted not to run for re-election.

Nick Collins, Thomasena Stokes-Marshall and Kenneth Glasson will seek re-election. Joe Bustos, George Freeman, William Mikell, Chris Nickels, Chris O'Neal and Mark Smith also will seek seats on the council.

Mount Pleasant elects its council at-large. The four highest vote-getters will win seats on the eight-person council.

On the council for 12 years, Gawrych said he wants to spend more time with his family, according to a Post and Courier story.

"My wife Zoe and I think it is important to spend a little extra time with our children and our extended family," Gawrich told the newspaper.

Mayor Billy Swails said he'll back the three incumbents seeking re-election, and he said some of the other qualifiers show promise, but he hasn't decided which candidate he will support.

"I’m certainly going to support my three incumbents as much as I can," said Swails, who was elected to a four-year term in 2009.

"You've got to love your community more than yourself to be a good councilman. Some people run just so they can say they are an elected official. You won't be successful if that's your motivation."

Nickells and Freeman were among 19 candidates that ran in the 2009 town council race. Bustos, a former councilman, ran against Swails in 2009.