Only one person filed for the office of city clerk in Bella Vista.
Wayne Jertson, 70, thought someone ought to step up, he said, and "decided to give it a go."
"I follow what is going on and saw no one had filed," he said.
Jertson is a professional photographer by trade. He retired to Bella Vista from Minnesota, where he owned a photography studio for more than 30 years.
He also served nine years on a Minnesota school board, he said.
After visiting Bella Vista in 1992, he bought a lot in 1993 and continued to visit with his wife, Marsha, for years.
"When it came time to retire, we couldn't find anything we liked nicer than Bella Vista," he said.
They moved here in spring 2010.
Jertson and his wife are active in their church and with the Village Art Club, he said, along with playing in a couple of different golf groups and serving as finance officer for American Legion Post 341.
He was heavily involved in the building of the new Legion facility last year, he said.
Jertson said he has done research on the clerk's position, and it "looked like something I could do."
The part-time position is up for election in the general election Nov. 4 and is a four-year term. The current clerk, Jane Wilms, is not seeking re-election.
The Jertsons have two children, one in Minnesota and one in Indiana, and eight grandchildren.
General News on 09/03/2014