A retired school social worker and active environmentalist is making a bid for one of three seats on the Lawrence City Commission.

Carey Maynard-Moody filed the necessary paperwork with the city clerk’s office Thursday afternoon. Maynard-Moody, who has been a longtime volunteer with the Sierra Club’s local chapter, said she would campaign on bringing more companies that are in the business of promoting or producing environmentally friendly products to Lawrence.

“It could be green growth,” Maynard-Moody said. “I do think Lawrence could be a hot spot for that.”

Maynard-Moody, 62, said she also wants to focus on promoting neighborhood and community participation in planning decisions.

Maynard-Moody, who has lived in Lawrence since 1981, said she thought now was an ideal time to be involved in city government.

“I think this is a good time and an exciting time,” she said. “We’re still a community that is under 100,000 people. There are still so many possibilities for us to prepare for the growth that will come.”

Maynard-Moody has been retired for three years as a school social worker for a cooperative education organization in Jefferson County. She also runs a floral business that operates at the Lawrence Farmers Market.

She became the fifth person to file for one of the three at-large seats on the commission. The election will be April 3. If more than six people file, there will be a primary Feb. 27. Candidates have until noon Jan. 23 to file.

Highberger vows early report on donations

City Commissioner Boog Highberger filed his paperwork to seek a second term Thursday, and issued a challenge to other candidates in the process.

Highberger – who previously announced he planned to run again – vowed to go beyond what state law requires when it comes to reporting campaign contributions.

State law allows candidates to wait to report contributions made in the final days of the campaign until after the election is over. Highberger promised to disclose all of his contributions prior to the primary or general election. He also asked all other candidates in the race to do the same.

“I think there’s a really big loophole in state law right now, and I hope we can convince the state to close it,” Highberger said of his reasons for making the pledge.

Highberger, an attorney for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, said his campaign would focus on creating good jobs, strengthening the community’s efforts to protect the environment, promoting community control of development and fostering diversity and tolerance in the city.