Two City Council members, three Columbia School Board members and two trustees for the Boone Hospital Center Board will be elected Tuesday in the municipal election. Two MU professors, an administrative assistant and a student are among the candidates.
Voting for the municipal elections begins this Tuesday. Polls open at 6 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. Citizens can find their polling place on the Boone County Clerk website.
####City Council Positions
Columbia residents will be electing new City Council members for the First and Fifth wards. In the First Ward — which covers campus, much of downtown and Greektown — incumbent Clyde Ruffin is running against both Andrew Hutchinson and Pat Kelley.
Ruffin was first elected in 2015 and is seeking his second term on council. He is a senior pastor at the Second Missionary Baptist Church.
Hutchinson is a senior at MU and a Columbia native. He has previously worked for the Columbia Housing Authority, an experience which he says allowed him to get to know a lot more of Columbia. Hutchinson told [the Maneater](https://www.themaneater.com/stories/2017/2/14/city-council-run-senior-andrew-hutchinson-focuses-/) that his campaign focuses on infrastructure, affordable student housing and community policing.
Kelley is an administrative assistant at MU. According to reporting by the [Columbia Missourian](http://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/elections/kelley-helps-patch-together-a-strong-caring-diverse-community/article_bbd33ab8-0f1c-11e7-9513-d3b23374c044.html), Kelley’s house suffered damage from two separate shootings in her neighborhood. It is because of these incidents that she has decided to run for the council and work to make Columbia neighborhoods safer for everyone.
In the Fifth Ward, covering the southeast section of Columbia, Arthur Jago and Matt Pitzer are running after incumbent Laura Nauser decided not to run.
Jago is a business professor and has been working at MU since 1994. According to his [Trulaske College of Business profile](https://business.missouri.edu/people-directory/arthur-g-jago), his teaching and research interests focus on leadership and managerial decision-making.
Pitzer works for Shelter Insurance and previously worked as a fantasy football analyst for USA Today. According to the Missourian, Pitzer hopes to use his analytical skills during his tenure on council.
####Columbia School Board
Paul Cushing, Jonathan Sessions and Helen Wade are the three incumbents running for re-election to the school board. Robin Dianics is the one newcomer running for her first term. Dianics, the only candidate who has not served on the school board, hopes to bring program equity, according to her [Facebook page](https://www.facebook.com/TheVoiceWeDeserve/).
A current issue for the school board is how to plan around Columbia’s rapidly growing population.
####Boone Hospital Center Board of Trustees
There are seats open for both a five-year term and a one-year term on the Boone Hospital Center Board of Trustees. Bob Wagner, Richard Shanker and Taylor Burks are running for the one-year term. Wagner previously served a five-year term on the board but now hopes to gain the one-year term.
Gordon Christensen and Randy Morrow are both running for the five-year term.
_Edited by Madi McVan | mmcvan@themaneater.com_
