By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

ALABASTER – Local voters will have a chance to decide several contested Alabaster municipal races in late August, as the city’s candidate-qualifying period drew to a close on July 19.

The two-week qualifying period ended at 5 p.m. on July 19, and drew a total of 14 candidates for the City Council and mayoral races.

Alabaster council candidates must qualify to run to represent the ward in which they live. Of the city’s seven wards, five will be contested in the upcoming municipal election, with only the Ward 6 and Ward 3 incumbents running unopposed.

Alabaster’s municipal elections will be held from 7 a.m.-7 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 23, at the Alabaster First United Methodist Church Restore building at 128 Market Center Drive off Alabama 119.

The following candidates have qualified for the following races:

 

Mayor

Marty Handlon (Incumbent)

Larry Sailes

 

City Council Ward 1

Lee Cunningham

Sophie Martin (Incumbent)

 

City Council Ward 2

Rick Ellis

Matthew Penhale

 

City Council Ward 3

Stacy Rakestraw (Incumbent)

 

City Council Ward 4

Greg Farrell

Rick Walters (Incumbent)

 

City Council Ward 5

Russell Bedsole (Incumbent)

Jamia Alexander-Williams

 

City Council Ward 6

Scott Brakefield (Incumbent)

 

City Council Ward 7

Kerri Bell Pate

Eric Starling