BROOKINGS – Bradley Walker has filed paperwork to run for the mayor’s seat on the Brookings City Council, City Clerk Bonnie Foster said last week.

“I’m running for mayor because I am frustrated with the actions that the city council has taken regarding restrictions on small businesses, for one thing,” Walker said.

Current Mayor Keith Corbett is not running for re-election. Jeff Miller, current councilor Ope Niemeyer and Walker are running for mayor, which has a three-year term.

Two three-year council seats are also up for election April 13. They are currently held by Patty Bacon and Nick Wendell. Both Bacon and Wendell, as well as Dr. Isaiah Crevier, Nate Holden and Nick Schmeichel are running.

“I’m looking forward to getting rid of those restrictions and restoring the business community. I’ve been talking to a lot of people, and many businesses have been suffering because of these restrictions,” Walker said.

“The policies that the city council has enacted has created a great divide in the community. We’ve created an ‘us against them’ kind of thing,” he said.

“We shouldn’t be pitting citizens against each other to report them to somebody if they think … they’re violating the mask mandate or such like that, and so I’d like to see more unity in the community,” Walker said. “The current city council has refused to listen to the voices of the citizens and totally disregarded their wishes. I will listen to the input I receive from the citizens and base my decisions on their input.” 

Another candidate filed a nominating petition Friday in the school board race, which now has four candidates vying for two three-year seats currently held by Debra DeBates and Roger DeGroot.

In the running are Keli Books, DeBates, Jacqueline Johnson and Jade Nelson Withers.

Deadline for candidates to file their paperwork to run for either city council or school board in the April 13 election was 5 p.m. Friday.

But candidates could have mailed their petitions in, as long as they were postmarked by Friday, Foster said, so there could be additional candidates announced yet this week.

Contact Jodelle Greiner at jgreiner@brookingsregister.com.