While some local politicians this week got a first-time look at their opponents with election qualifying completed Tuesday, several municipal officials now have the relief of knowing their positions are secure.

In West Point the only person who qualified to run for town council who is not already on the board, Steve Link, is running to fill the seat of an official who declined to seek re-election, Pat McKenzie.

“We won’t be having an election,” said town clerk Joyce Sapp.

Garden City officials find themselves in the same position.

“Everybody in office has now qualified and there is no opposition,” town clerk Pam Leslie said.

West Point incumbents who will remain in office after the Aug. 26 election are Mayor Kenneth Kilgo and councilors Vivian Woods, Gerald Schaefer, Jeana Hines and Jerry Smith. Garden City officials who will keep their jobs for four more years are Mayor Harden Davis and councilors Joe Chafin, Tim Eskew, Rufus McAnnally and Scott Arnold.

Fairview is another town where an election will not be necessary because of the absence of challengers to the incumbent mayor, Randall Shedd, and current council members Hubert Phillips, Norman Dye, Paula Edge, Steve Callahan and Cindy Miller.

Not all town officials are so lucky. Colony Mayor Earlene Johnson will face opposition from Morris Fitts. Also in Colony, Donnis Lee is challenging incumbent John H. Turner for his seat on the council. Also running for council is Patrick C. Moore, who will run unopposed for Seat 3 on the board. Incumbent Penny Turner is not seeking re-election.

Colony incumbents who are running unopposed are William L. Turner, Alicestine Green and J.C. Hull.

Unlike Colony, all of Hanceville’s incumbent town councilors are running again. They are Joann Walls, Selma Barnett, Larry Cornett, Hubert Jones and Wayne Armstrong.

Also running in the race are Rhonda Jett and John Whitaker for Place 1; Sally Alexander for Place 2; Kim Brown and Rodell Knight for Place 3; Charles Wilson and Oscar Santiago for Place 4; and James Sawyer and Ed Flaig for Place 5.

One Hanceville incumbent not seeking re-election is mayor Katie Whitley. Candidates running for the position are Connie Martin, Doug Batemon, former Hanceville council member Bobby Brown and former Hanceville mayor Kenneth Nail.

Hanceville is not the only community where the mayor is calling it quits. Cullman Mayor Don Green declined to run for re-election.

Five others, however, will vie for the spot including city councilor Ernest Hauk, Eric Perry, Lou Bradford, Marshall Rowe and Max A. Townson.

Of the five current Cullman council members, only two — Garlan Grudger, Jr. and Wayne Walker — chose to qualify. Other candidates who qualified for the position include Andy “Coach” Page and Kerry Watson for Place 1; Johnny Cook, Jewell Hall and O.B. “Red” Parris for Place 3; Larry Entrekin, Allen “Bubba” Green and Clint Hollingsworth for Place 4; and Jenny Folsom and C. Blake West for Place 5.