(This post has been updated from the print edition.)

The last day for candidates to declare their candidacies and submit nomination papers is Friday, but some fields are emerging in Benicia’s City Council and school board races.

The Benicia City Council has two seats open in this year’s race, those belonging to councilmembers Mark Hughes and Alan Schwartzman. As of press time, neither incumbent has publicly announced plans to run for re-election nor have they filed papers, according to the Solano County Registrar of Voters. Two candidates have completed all the filing steps: Economic Development Board Chair Lionel Largaespada and former Councilmember Christina Strawbridge. Planning Commission Chair Kari Birdseye posted a picture on her campaign’s Facebook page of her pulling papers, although this had not been recorded on the Registrar of Voters’ site.

Benicia Unified School District’s Governing Board has three seats up for grabs. President Diane Ferrucci had issued nomination documents on July 23. The other two seats belong to trustees Celeste Monnette and Peter Morgan, both of whom have said they will not run again. This leaves the field wide open, and three candidates have also issued nomination documents: Adrean Hayashi, a Benicia resident and Fairfield real estate partner; Mark Maselli, an employee at Pittsburg Unified School District; and Sheri Zada, a retired elementary school librarian. As of press time on Friday, only Zada had completed all the steps to become an official candidate, although this could change in the coming days.

Elsewhere in the county, Dana Dean– who represents Benicia on the Solano County Board of Education and previously served as a BUSD trustee– completed all her paperwork to run again. As of Friday, she had received no challengers.

Keep reading the Herald for further information, including interviews with all the candidates. For further information on Solano County’s election process, including key dates and filed candidates in all races, go to solanocounty.com/depts/rov/.

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