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Trustee to run against incumbent Carbondale mayor

Gina GuarascioCarbondale Correspondent

CARBONDALE – Trustee Russ Criswell will challenge incumbent Mayor Michael Hassig for his seat in the April 4 municipal election.”I have some things I would like to accomplish for the town,” Criswell said Tuesday when he made his final decision. “It has nothing to do with Michael. I’m not running against Michael, I’m running for mayor. I’m running for Carbondale.”Hassig has served as mayor for four years and was a member of the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission for nine years before that. He said his role as mayor has been to guide discussion and foster debate.”I’ve enjoyed my four years as mayor. I’m honored to serve,” Hassig said. “The most important hat I wear is not as an advocate for specific positions, but as an advocate for the process.”There are a lot of disparate and diverse viewpoints in Carbondale,” he said. “I want people to feel like the process is open and transparent, and that their voice is listened to.” Criswell, who has two years left in his current council term, would retain his trustee seat if he loses the mayoral race. He said he has several goals, regardless of which seat he’s in, including making the Gateway River Park a reality and creating safe routes for kids to get across Highway 133 and to school.”The most critical issue facing Carbondale is still creating and implementing the vision of what we want for our town,” said Criswell.Meanwhile, incumbent trustees John Foulkrod, Stacey Patch Bernot and Scott Chaplin have all declared their candidacy to run for re-election.”I care a great deal about this community and the direction we take in moving towards the future,” Chaplin said. “We are at a crossroads now, where we could go down the road towards becoming just another suburbia, or we can build on our strengths in terms of small-town living.”Joining the race will be local veterinarian Martha Rideout and structural engineer and Libertarian activist Barry Maggert.


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