By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
Luke Oborny was the first to file for re-election to the Hays USD 489 school board on Friday.
Oborny, 39, a customer sales supervisor for Next-Tech, is in his first term as a school board member.
“When I look back at everything that has happened the past four years, I am amazed but I just don’t feel like like the job is done yet,” Oborny said via email. “I had thought about it for a long time and received feedback from many encouraging me to rerun so I decided to take action and make it official.”
Oborny said his goals for his second term really are not that different than when he sought election the first time.
“I would like to work on board unity and see us come together more. Perhaps our long-term plan would help and then we could all rally behind our goals and steps to accomplish that.
“I also would like to see progress and/or a plan for facility improvement. We all know and seem to agree our schools have needs and are aging. I would like to see us start to make some progress toward those improvements.
“Our staff has done a great job making improvements where we could, including lighting and some new HVAC systems, but some of our needs are too large for the capital outlay budget. I feel we have done a good job with the budget and saving where we could, but new buildings will require a bond. I would like to see us begin that process even if that means one school at a time.”
The school board is scheduled to discuss more on a possible bond and capital improvements at tonight’s meeting.
Kristy Oborny, Luke’s wife, is a fourth-grade teacher and librarian at O’Loughlin Elementary School.
Also up for re-election are board president Mandy Fox, and members Greg Schwartz and Paul Adams.
School board members are elected for four-year terms. The filing deadline is June 3. There will be a primary in August if enough people file, which is twice the number of seats available plus one. Ellis County Clerk Donna Maskus said all city and school board candidates must file with the County Clerk’s Office. The filling fee is $20.
Improvement district leadership as well as extension directors will also be on the the ballot this fall, Maskus said.
The General Election will be Tuesday, Nov. 5.
Also up for election in November will be the Hays City Commission seats now held by James Meier, current mayor Henry Schwaller IV and Ron Mellick.
Ellis USD 383 will have four seats up for election. Those seats are currently held by Mike Keller, Glenn Fondoble, Rob Soneson and Melanie Fischer.
Victoria will elect a mayor and two city council positions. The current Victoria mayor is John Schulte. The council seats are held by Erica Dinges and Dustin Schumacher.
The City of Ellis has a separate charter. It elects three council seats per year and the mayor and treasurer every other year. This year the three council seats held by Holly Aschenbrenner, Robert Redger and Bret Andries are up for election. The mayor and treasurer positions will also be on the ballot. David McDaniel is the current mayor, and Faith Scheck is the current treasurer.