With the qualifying deadline still more than a month away, the Brookhaven municipal election field seems to be getting a little more crowded of late.

Since Mayor Les Bumgarner announced Jan. 18 that he wasn’t going to seek re-election, the race for the city’s top elected position has been noticeably empty. Then Monday, Rose “Polly” Powell turned in her qualifying papers to run as an independent.

No doubt, others were just waiting for the first hat to go in the ring, and the campaign for mayor will likely heat up soon.

While the race for mayor was slow in getting started, the campaigns for some of the other posts have seen more activity.

In the police chief’s race, incumbent Pap Henderson, like Bumgarner, has said he won’t run again. Three candidates have already signed up to run: Assistant Chief Bobby Bell and Larry Warren, both Democrats, and Ted Goleman, a Republican.

City Clerk Mike Jinks has qualified to run again as a Republican, and so far, he faces no opposition.

Alderman at Large Karen Sullivan, a Republican, is being challenged by Ed Thompson, running as an independent.

In the race for Ward One alderman, incumbent Dorsey Cameron, a Democrat, faces challengers Randy Belcher and Kermit Sartin, both Democrat.

No one has signed up yet to run for Ward Two alderman, but in Ward Three, we have incumbent Mary Wilson, a Democrat and Lennie Lewis-Bracey, a Democrat

In Ward Four, incumbent Shirley Estes, a Republican, has no opposition to date.

In Ward Five, only one candidate has qualified – Fletcher Grice, a Republican, while in Ward Six, there are two Democrats facing each other – Mackie Gipson and David McCoy.

Despite the interest in some of the aldermen positions, a number of incumbents have yet to qualify. But candidates have until March 8 to file the required papers in the city clerk’s office.

Things are just getting started.