BY JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader staff writer
IN SHORT: With Bill Harmon
retiring, voters will decide on whether Dan Stedman or Mike Presson should be the new mayor. There are also races on for
aldermen and clerk-treasurer. The city will also begin its transition from two-year terms to four-year terms for aldermen this election.
Come January, someone other than Bill Harmon will be Sherwood mayor for the first time in over a decade, with Alderman Dan Stedman and restaurateur Mike Presson competing for the honor.
Because Sherwood city elections, like those in Jacksonville, are non-partisan, there were no primaries. Sherwood electors will choose their city officials during the Nov. 7 general elections.
Presson, 53, owns and operates Press 1s Pizza, 8403 Hwy. 107. A Sherwood resident since 1960, the Sylvan Hills High School graduate says he’s been in and around politics for past 20 years, but this is his first run for office.
Presson’s serving his third term on the Sherwood Parks and Recreation Commission and has been involved as an officer in the PTA and area baseball, associations he believes gives him a good base of support. He says he would
continue the path Harmon has blazed.
Stedman, 57, served as a lieutenant colonel in Arkansas Air Force and Air National Guard for 28 years.
He teaches introduction to management and state and local government at ASU-Beebe. A small business owner, Stedman has served on the Sherwood City Council since appointed in April 2002. He was elected to a full term in 2004. He has been president of the Chamber of Commerce, the Sherwood Rotary and the Sherwood Civil Service Commission.
“The hallmark of citizenship is public service,” Stedman says. “I’d like to see the city continue to grow in a progressive way.”
Sherwood begins its transition from two-year terms to four-year terms for aldermen this election. The Position 1 Position 2 seats will be for two years.
Beginning in 2008, all terms will be for four years, meaning that half the seats will be up for grabs each two years after that.
CLERK/TREASURER
City Clerk Virginia R. Hillman faces a challenge from Sharon McMinn.
Hillman, 42, is seeking her second full term. She has worked for the city nearly half her life, in the city clerk’s office, accounts payable, vehicle insurance and planning and engineering.
She holds double master’s de-grees from Webster University in public administration and human resource development and is an adjunct professor for the University of Phoenix.
McMinn, 55, has a voice and music school, where she coaches pageant contestants. She has worked as a paralegal and for the city of Sherwood since 1980. She said she has all the qualifications for the job.
McMinn also founded the Epi-lepsy Education Association for the state.
Sherwood city attorney Steve Cobb is running unopposed for reelection.
Robert J. Walla, an officer for a large municipal fire department, is challenging incumbent Becki Vassar for the Ward 1, Position 1 alderman seat.
Vassar, 62, a former teacher, runs a truck-leasing business with her husband Larry. She’s been on the council more than 20 years, “and I enjoy every minute of it,” she says. She considers herself an advocate for senior citizens and is proud of the senior citizens center she helped create in Sherwood.
Walla, 46, says he’s been involved in public service all his “grown-up life.”
“We need some new ideas in Sherwood,” he said. “We need to get that North Belt Loop through Sherwood built. Sherwood’s been a stumbling block.” Walla also would like to see a widespread recycling program in town.
HARMON VS. CHASTINE
Charlie Harmon and Greg Chastine will face off for the Ward 1 Position 1 seat being vacated by Stedman, the mayoral candidate.
Harmon is the son of the current mayor, and Chastine cut his teeth as an organizer of the grassroots movement that stopped the North Belt Freeway from plowing through several subdivisions.
Harmon, 43, is a real-estate attorney for Dillard’s Inc. “I’ve lived in Sherwood over 40 years, my hometown.”
He said he was raising his children in Sherwood and thus has a vested interest in continued, controlled growth of the city. This is his first run for elected office. He served as a Sylvan Hills Fire Department commissioner. “I’m coming into office with no preset agenda,” he said.
Chastine, 44, owns GFW Computer Services, a company that repairs computers, sets up and services networks and does Webpage design and development. He lost his first race for alderman two years ago. He is vice president of the Arkansas Better Business Bureau. Trained by IBM and NCR, Chastine is pursuing a degree in business at Pulaski Tech. He’s lived 18 years in central Arkansas, the last 12 of them in Sherwood.
Running unopposed for reelection are aldermen Butch Davis, David Henry, Sheila Sulcer, Mart-ina Brooks, Keith Rankin and Steve K. Fender.
