So you say you would like to be the mayor of Jackson? Well, the time for you to make that happen is right now. In what would otherwise be an off-year for local Jackson politics, there will be two contests to be determined in the November general election.

Several years ago Jackson switched from a Township Committee form of government to a nonpartisan form of government with a mayor directly elected by voters and a fiveperson Township Council.

Under the previous form of government, the members of the governing body were elected in November.

Under the new form of government, the nonpartisan municipal election is held in May. Also under the new form of government, candidates do not have to be nominated by a political party in order to be able to run for office. Any resident may file a petition and be guaranteed a spot on the ballot.

That brings us to the races for two positions in Jackson that will be on the ballot in November.

After Jackson Mayor Mark Seda resigned from office in 2008, Michael Reina, who had been serving on the Township Council, was selected to be the mayor on an interim basis.

In the November 2009 election, voters will elect a person to serve the remainder of the term that Seda originally won in May 2006. That term runs through June 30, 2010.

Reina or any other Jackson resident who wants to be mayor from November through June has until Sept. 10 to file a nominating petition with the township clerk. There can be one candidate for mayor, two candidates for mayor, or 10 candidates for mayor.

After Reina was selected to be Jackson's interim mayor, the seat he held on council became open and Howard Tilis was appointed to that position in late 2008.

In November the council seat now held by Tilis will be on the ballot. The individual who is elected in November will win a term that runs through June 30, 2012.

Tilis or any other resident who wants to run for that council position has until Sept. 10 to file a nominating petition with the township clerk.

Now stay with me here, because this does not get any easier.

In May 2010, Jackson residents will head back to the voting booth to elect a mayor who will serve a four-year term that begins on July 1, 2010. The deadline for interested

residents to file a nominating petition to run for the four-year mayor's term is mid-March, according to township clerk Ann Marie Eden. Also on the May election ballot will be two four-year council terms. The council terms that Scott Martin and Ann Updegrave won in the first nonpartisan election in 2006 will be ending on June 30, 2010. The new four-year council

Martin, Updegrave and any other resident who so desires may file a nominating petition to run for a seat on the governing body. There are no primary elections in Jackson and there is no limit to the number of residents who may run for office.

Most Jackson residents seem to have accepted the new form of government that has been in place since mid-2006. As with any form of government, however, it is the people who are elected who make it work or make it fail.

The best form of government will fail if people who are not committed to, or not capable of handling, the tasks at hand can pull the wool over the eyes of the voters.

This nonpartisan mayor and council form of government was sold to Jackson residents on the claim that anyone can run for office and have an impact in the community without having to pay the dues that political puppet masters sometimes demand of chosen candidates.

We will find out later this year and early next year if more than just a handful of Jackson residents are interested in getting involved in making their town a better place to live.

Mark Rosman is the managing editor of the Tri-Town News.