Mar. 2—Cleburne's May 6 council elections — two seats are up for grabs — will bring two new council members to the mix. The Single Member District 2 race, featured in Tuesday's Times-Review, includes business owner Blake Jones and attorney Michael Hammond vying for the vacant seat. Former SMD 2 Councilman Chris Boedeker ran for and won the Johnson County judge seat last year. Boedeker stepped down from council in December and city officials decided to leave his seat vacant until May's election.

The incumbent in the SMD 3 race, Councilman Mike Mann, initially filed for reelection but subsequently changed his mind and withdrew. That race now consists of middle school teacher James Stuer and Texas Department of Transportation employee Joseph Mims.

Mims, 52, moved to Cleburne in 2016.

"I've always had a servant's heart to serve not only my family and community but to serve whoever might be in need of help," Stuer said of his decision to enter the race. "When I saw the elections were coming up, I spoke to my wife and told her what I was thinking. We prayed about and got peace with it. So now I'm interested to see the next level of taking that servant mentality and becoming a servant to the community."

Mims, 38, moved from Burleson to Cleburne with his family when he was 5 and went on to graduate from Cleburne's Hill College campus. Mims formerly worked for the city but has been with TxDOT for the past 17 years.

"I heard that Councilman Mann might not be interested in running again and wanted to put my name in the hat," Mims said his entry into the race. "I want to do the best that I can for the city of Cleburne and its residents.

Stuer grew up in Fort Worth but spent time in Michigan working as an officer for the University of Michigan's Police Department.

"I volunteered with Big Brothers and Big Sisters as well as other boys and girls clubs during my time in Ann Arbor," Stuer said. "Also as a peewee football coach in Granbury."

Mims was active in Cleburne's Satellite Rotary Club during that club's existence, helped out with various functions for area Masonic lodges and serves as a krav maga instructor.

"I always want to help out where I can and continue to do so with various civic groups and through other activities," Mims said.

Both men stressed the importance of voting.

"That's one of my biggest things is that I want to see more people in the district getting out and voting," Mims said. "It seems like over the past few elections there hasn't been a very good turnout in this district and I'm hoping to help change that."

Stuer agreed.

"That's one of my main things," Stuer said. "I don't care which side of the political spectrum people are on as long as they vote. As a social studies teacher, I'm always telling my kids the importance of using your right to vote as a U.S. citizen."

Both stressed the importance of managing Cleburne's growth and support of continued downtown revival initiatives.

"I know we're going to be looking for a new city manager soon," Mims said. "That will be a really big focus. Then of course water sources, which they're already looking into plans to ensure that and managing growth in a way that makes sense for our city and residents."

Stuer said he's studying and will continue to study city issues if elected.

"I'm one to believe that if there's a problem there's always a solution," Stuer said. "That's one thing I tell all my kids in the classroom. Maybe you can't figure it out right now but let's figure our other solutions then figure which are the wrong ones from the right one. There are always solutions. You just need to find out what the problems are first."