Of the three Cape Girardeau ward seats `on the April ballot, only one features a contested race.

Tuesday was the final day of the candidate filing period.

While six potential candidates expressed interest in running and picked up nominating petitions, the city said, only four filed. Candidates first must be nominated by a petition signed by at least 50 voters registered in the ward for which the candidate is seeking election. Candidates then may file with the city during the filing period.

If all of the six candidates had filed, each ward race would have been contested.

In Ward 3, incumbent Victor Gunn is running for re-election. The retired deputy police chief took over the position in August 2014 after a special election to fill the unexpired term of Trent Summers, who moved out of the ward.

Bob Fox

The other unchallenged candidate is Bob Fox, in Ward 5. He opened Fox Family Dentistry in Cape Girardeau in 1975 and has served as president of the Missouri Dental Association. He spent nine years on the Cape Girardeau School Board until 2003, serving as president for four years.

Because Councilman Mark Lanzotti is term-limited, the Ward 5 seat will be left open in April.

Voters in Ward 4 will see two names when they step into voting booths in April. The sitting council representative for the ward, Loretta Schneider, also is term-limited in April.

Candidate Robbie Guard is an assistant vice president in commercial lending for MRV Banks. He's served on the city's Golf Course Advisory Board since 2008 and was a member of the Transportation Trust Fund 5 public information committee, a volunteer citizen panel formed before the August election. He also has served in leadership roles on boards with the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce, Cape Girardeau Jaycees and Noon Lions Club, among other organizations.

Running for city council has been a longtime goal for Guard.

Robbie Guard

"It's something that, in my adult life, growing up in Cape -- quite frankly, it's something that I've always wanted to do, to represent a group of people and help Cape get better," he said.

Fellow Ward 4 candidate Patrick Koetting, a sales representative for Major Brands for Southeast Missouri, briefly served on the council last year as an interim representative of Ward 3. He held the position until Gunn took over, after the special election. He moved to Ward 4 soon after his temporary service in the city's third ward.

He also is on the Planning and Zoning Commission and is among the organizers of the Cape Girardeau Friends of Public Safety. Continuing to support the city's fire and police departments is among his primary goals, as is continuing the momentum in the downtown area.

"I want to see the downtown area be what it could be," he said. "There's enormous potential there."

Because each ward has fewer than three candidates running, no primary election will be required. The general election will be April 5.

Patrick Koetting

srinehart@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3641

Pertinent address:

Cape Girardeau, Mo.