Familiar names in running for open supervisor seat

See update at bottom of post.

IOWA CITY - The deadline to apply for the vacant seat on the Johnson County Board of Supervisors is 5 p.m. Friday.

A three-person committee is expected to fill the post unless a petition drive trying to force a special election is successful.

Already, there are a couple of interesting applicants for the job. The Auditor's Office is placing documents related to the vacancy up on its Web site.

One is Iowa City Council member Mike O'Donnell. His term on the council is up this year, and he is not seeking re-election.

In 2004, O'Donnell ran for supervisor but did not advance past the primary.

Former Supervisor Mike Lehman also is interested. Lehman served on the board for eight years before being unseated by Larry Meyers.

It is Meyers seat that is vacant, following his death last month from cancer.

There also are several letters of support for Janelle Rettig, who has already announced that she will run for supervisor in next year's election.

UPDATE: 9:30 a.m. Wednesday

You can add another familiar name to this list:  Norman Bickford.

Bickford applied for the supervisors seat vacated by Joe Bolkcom in 1998 when Bolkcom was elected to the Iowa Senate.

Carol Thompson was appointed to the position in early 2009.