HERMISTON — The filing deadline has passed for the Hermiston City Council race, and a total of five candidates will be vying for four seats in November.

Maria E. Durón, a family engagement specialist for Hermiston School District, was the last to add her name to the list. She said she filed to run because she is passionate about helping the community and wanted a better understanding of how the city works. She also sees a need for more Hispanic representation on the council, particularly because Manuel Gutierrez is not running again for his seat.

“I see a need for more Hispanic folks to step up to leadership positions,” she said.

Durón has previous experience as an elected official through about eight years on the Hermiston School District’s board of directors. She resigned from that position in 2017 in order to take a job with the school district.

She is one of two new faces running for the council. The other is Nancy Peterson, an accessibility specialist for Columbia Basin College who previously told the East Oregonian she was running because she hoped to help community members feel their voices were being heard.

Incumbents Rod Hardin, Doug Primmer and David McCarthy have also filed to run again. Hardin has served 28 years on the council, while Primmer is running for his third four-year term. McCarthy was appointed to fill the seat previously held by John Kirwan in May.

Hermiston’s council consists of four at-large seats and four seats representing specific geographical wards within the city. The four at-large seats are up for election on Nov. 3. All five candidates will appear on the ballot, and the top four vote-getters will be sworn into office in January.

Umatilla City Council

In Umatilla, all three city council positions up for reelection in November have two people vying for the seat.

According to the filing paperwork for the election, Michael Roxbury is not running again for position #2 on the council. Instead, Daren Dufloth and Devon Mitchell will be vying for the seat.

Mitchell said he has lived in Umatilla since 2014 and lived in Hermiston for almost a decade before that. He works for Eastern Oregon Telecom and the Oregon Army National Guard.

He said he believes Umatilla has a lot of potential, and he wants to help the city continue moving in a positive direction.

“It’s always felt like home. It’s always been a nice place to live,” he said. “I want to see it grow and excel and if I can have a hand in that, great.”

Dufloth, who owns The Bridge (previously known as Riverside Sports Bar) with his wife Paulette, has served on the city council before and was mayor from 2017-19 before being beat by current Mayor Mary Dedrick when he ran for a second term.

Dufloth said he believes Umatilla is headed in a good direction and wants to be part of the “brain trust” that helps the city grow and improve.

“The city is making a lot of investment in our community and I wanted to be part of that,” he said.

Incumbent Ashley Wheeler is running for a second term in position #4. She was appointed to the position in 2018.

According to her filing paperwork, she is a business owner and the office manager at Edward Jones Investments.

Wheeler is running against Isis Ilias, whose husband Ivan Gutierrez is also on the ballot.

Ilias, a stay-at-home mother, said she and Gutierrez both decided to run because they wanted to be a voice for the community and support the city, particularly the public library, where Ilias serves on the board.

“We believe in this community and want to be of service to it,” she said.

Gutierrez is running against Roak TenEyck for position #6 on the council. TenEyck was appointed to the council in 2013 and successfully ran to keep the position in 2017. He is a crop advisor for Simplot Grower Solutions.