Three people have picked up papers to run in the August election for the open District 8 City Council seat.
They are D'Angelo Davis, Malarie B. Marsh and Marie Mott. Applicants have until noon on April 7 to file their petition with the election office to meet the qualifying deadline.
The seat came open when Anthony Byrd was appointed City Court clerk.
At the same time, the City Council is taking applications for those who want to be named to serve on an interim basis. Applicants have until Tuesday at noon. The appointee will be able to also run in the election, it was decided by the council. One argument when the council was deciding whether or not to allow the appointee to run in the election was that it would give he or she "a leg up."
Chattanoogan.com asked for a copy of the list of those who have applied thus far to be appointed. The City Council office said an Open Records request needed to be filed. The city has up to seven days to reply to such a request.
In the Internet age, after up to a week of waiting for an answer means the issue of the day has already passed in most cases and is an effective denial of the request.
Nevertheless the Open Records request was filed.
After several days, the response was tough luck.
The lady at city Open Records said there was not an official "list" because no one had put the names of the various applicants on a list.
Request denied.
Open Records is part of the city attorney's office.
The election office immediately posts on their public website the names of each person who comes into the office to run for a certain seat. It is there for everyone to see.