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By TYLER RALEY | Staff Writer

CHELSEA – The city of Chelsea is preparing for its 2025 Municipal Election, when it will elect its newest mayor and City Council for the next four years.

Citizens now know the field that will be on the ballot on Aug. 26 after the qualifying period for the election concluded on Tuesday, June 24, which allowed candidates to fill out the necessary paperwork for have their name on the ballot.

This year, the mayor’s seat is up for grabs and will see two candidates competing for the position after Tony Picklesimer announced that this term will be his last.

In the way of the City Council, four places are running uncontested, while the remaining one will have three names on the ballot.

Places 2, 3 and 5 will all be filled by incumbents, as Mayor Pro Tempore Scott Weygand, Chris Grace and Casey Morris, respectively, will run without any challenger and will all serve third terms.

Place 1 will see a new face step up, as Johnna Barnes will fill the spot held by Cody Sumners, who is running for the mayoral seat in the upcoming election.

The remaining seat in Place 4 is currently held by Arthur Fisher Jr., who has announced he will be campaigning to retain his seat after being appointed to the position in 2023 to fill the position of Tiffany Bittner.

He is being challenged by Ryan Adams, who is currently a teacher at Chelsea High School, and Jeff Honea II, who is a pharmaceutical owner and chief executive officer.

The mayoral position will be filled by a new face in the upcoming term. Mayor Picklesimer was first elected to his seat in the 2016 municipal election and will not seek reelection for a third term in office.

His replacement will be decided as one of two of candidates—Sumners, who has served on the Chelsea City Council for two terms, and Mike Rochester, a business owner.

Sumners announced his intention to run for mayor in January while simultaneously being honored for his retirement from the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office. He served for the county for 26 years, holding a wide variety of positions in the organization.

Rochester announced his candidacy in an official Facebook post on Friday, June 20 and has lived in Chelsea for almost a decade. He previously lived in Trussville, where he served as the president of the Trussville Chamber of Commerce and helped with the planning and development of the city’s parks and recreation facilities.

Voting for the city of Chelsea’s Municipal Election will be held at the Chelsea Community Center from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Those who want more information on the election can view it at Cityofchelsea.com/413/local-elections.