Who will be Havre de Grace's next mayor? The next few weeks could be very telling, as the filing season for the May city election draws near.
Candidates for the mayor's office and three seats on the six-member city council can sign up between March 3 and March 17.
In addition to Mayor Wayne Dougherty, the seats of longtime council members Randy Craig, John Correri and Fred Cullum will be contested in the May 5 election.
Dougherty has been the city's mayor since 2007. He hasn't made up his mind if he will run for a fifth consecutive two-year term, saying last week he won't decide until it gets closer to the filing date.
Cullum returned to the council in 2013 after he lost a bid for re-election the previous year. He previously had served on the council for more than a decade.
Correri also returned to the council in 2013. He had lengthy service on the council dating back to the mid-1970s and served twice as an interim mayor, in 1979-81 and 2005-2007, when there were vacancies in the office.
Craig was elected to the council in 2009 and re-elected in 2011 and 2013.
Cullum said he doesn't know if he will run again. Craig and Correri couldn't be reached for comment.
Council President Bill Martin said he is considering running for the city's top post. The terms of Martin and council members David Glenn and Steve Gamatoria don't end until May 2016.
"I am looking into it and it's a definitely possibility," Martin said. "It's something I have thought about for a long time and my only thing now is just taking a long look at my schedule and see how it affects my family."
Martin said he thinks Dougherty has done "a very good job" and he does not think the city is headed in the wrong direction.
"I just feel I have worked so hard on the council for seven years and put my heart into things," he said. "I just think I can help it go further."
"I don't want to be on the council forever, and I won't be on the council forever," Martin added, but clarified about a mayoral run: "I am not saying 'no' and I am not saying 'yes.'"