As the March 9 deadline for declaring candidacy approaches, the West Lane County  Commissioner’s race has already attracted an eclectic pool of candidates.
The West Lane seat represents Florence, Junction City, Veneta and the surrounding area.
Incumbent Commissioner Bill Fleenor, after some indecision on the issue, officially announced in late December that he would not run for re-election.
The primary for county commissioner is a nonpartisan election set to take place May 18. The top two vote-getters in the primary will compete in November’s general election. A candidate can proceed to the general election without a competitor if he or she garners at least 50 percent of the votes in the primary (with the exception of write-ins).
Lea Patten, who is working with former Lane County Commissioner Jerry Rust’s campaign, said the candidates would be using the upcoming months to get the word out about their participation in the race.
At 18, Fred Starr is by far the youngest in this year’s candidate pool. He said his decision to run began to gain traction when heard the post would be vacant.
“When I first heard Bill Fleenor wasn’t running, I considered joining the race,” Starr said. “Then I heard that two of my competitors were from Veneta, and the otheres were from Elmira and Florence. I thought I could represent a wider part of the populus.”
Starr is from Mapleton.
Rust, an experienced public figure in Eugene, announced his candidacy at the end of January, citing health services, public safety and local agriculture as his top priorities. Rust said the endorsement of Fleenor factored into his decision to run for the office.
“I love Lane County,” Rust said. “I was asked to look at this race when Bill Fleenor dropped out and some of his supporters turned to me as a candidate.”
Rust resided on the Lane County Commission for 20 years between 1977 and 1997. In the years since being on the Commission, Rust said he’s been keeping busy as “a farmer and an English teacher.”
Others who have announced their candidacy include Anselmo Villanueva, Tony McCown, Jay Bozievich and David William Northey.
Rust said whoever did attain the commissioner’s post would have his work cut out for them, citing the many responsibilities that come with being county commissioner.
“It’s a big, big job. Hundreds of millions of dollars for vital services flow through the county. We deal with public health, public safety, all of human services and elections services,” Rust said. “Lane County is as big as the state of Connecticut; it’s vast.”
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