Ypsilanti resident Brian Robb will be running against fellow resident Rod Johnson for the presently vacated Ward 3 seat held by Barry LaRue who has decided to not run for another term.

There are four open seats, including the mayor's, on Ypsilanti City Council that will be on the ballots for this year's General Election on Nov. 7. As of press time on Tuesday, the race in Ward 3 and for the Mayor's post are the only contested seats.

Trudy Swanson, mayor pro-tem, has decided to run again for her seat in Ward 1 and is currently running unopposed. Swanson started on council at the same time Mayor Cheryl Farmer was elected.

William Nickels, Ward 2, is also running unopposed as of press time. Nickels flirted with the idea of running for mayor but decided against it last week, he said that he would be unable to contribute the time needed for mayor of Ypsilanti.

"I estimate the mayor has three times the responsibilities and demands on time compared to a council person," Nickels said.

In the mayor's race, resident Steve Pierce will be battling with Paul Schreiber in the Democratic Primary, August 8, for the right to run under the Democratic ticket. As of press time, Schreiber had not filed to run but had picked up the forms according to the City Clerk's Office.

Farmer, a medical doctor, decided not to run for her fourth term last week saying she would like to spend more time on her medical practice. She would also like to spend more time on things she has overlooked throughout the past 11 years – like her garden.

"I'm sure it looks absolutely terrible by now!" Farmer said.

The deadline for registered Democrats and Republicans to file for city council and mayor is May 16. Candidates with no party affiliation have until a July 20 deadline to file for the November general election and Aug. 4 is the deadline for write-in candidates to submit their Declaration of Intent forms for the August Primary according to http://www.ewashtenaw.org/.

Special Writer Kathleen Conat contributed to this story.