Elected offices up for grabs

Dave Brooks

Two of Surf City’s top positions are up for grabs this November when

the city treasurer and city clerk will face reelection.

Current City Treasurer Sheri Freidenrich has taken out papers to

run for a third term in office, as has newly appointed City Clerk

Joan Flynn, who will campaign for her first elected term in office.

Flynn worked as a senior administrative analyst in the Public

Works Department before being appointed city clerk.

Flynn faced seven other candidates for the job at the council’s

May 24 hearing.

“I’ve been planning on running for the last eight or nine months,”

Flynn said later. “I would have ran whether I was appointed to the

position or not. This has been a goal of mine for quite some time.”

Flynn said she wants to continue the department’s mission of

customer service and says she has really enjoyed her brief tenure in

the position.

“I come to work everyday and I just love being here,” she said.

“The staff is great and the job just seems like such a good fit to

me. It really feels right.”

No one else has so much as taken out nominating papers but another

opponent looms large.

Asst. City Clerk Liz Ehring, who applied for the position in May

when 16-year veteran Connie Brockway stepped down, said she may try

again -- this time with the voters.

“I haven’t decided anything definite yet,” said Ehring, who works

in the same second floor City Hall office as Flynn. “We have until

Aug. 6 [to file], just like anyone else.”

City Treasurer Freidenrich will face her third election this year,

and like last year, could face no competition for the job. Without a

formal opponent in 2000 election, Freidenrich captured 100% of vote,

the Orange County Elections Department reported.