Three more candidates have entered the running for an upcoming opening on the Columbus Light and Water board, bringing the total to six.

Charlotte Braxton-Verdell, Donald Pope and Sidney Runnels have applied to fill the seat currently occupied by Jabari Edwards. His five-year term expires June 19. The appointment will be made June 20. The deadline to apply was noon Wednesday.

Edwards, who is under federal indictment, has not reapplied.

Other applicants include former Golden Triangle Development LINK vice president Brenda Lathan, former mayor Robert Smith and businessman Maurice Webber.

Braxton-Verdell is a homemaker. She previously worked as an optician at Brooks Eye Center and Optical, as a research and development chemist at Southern Ionics and as an office administrator at Real Living Hearts and Home Realty.

She unsuccessfully ran for the Ward 3 city council seat in 2017.

Braxton-Verdell, who is related to CLW Manager Angela Verdell by marriage, said she applied because she wanted to help make Columbus better.

“I’m a concerned citizen, and I wanted to be involved in the city of Columbus and learn more about the power sources here,” Braxton-Verdell said. “I want to be part of a team that is able to help see Columbus move forward.”

She said she doesn’t have firm goals in mind yet.

“Initially I just want to get on the team and see where we are and where we want to go,” Braxton-Verdell said.

Pope is a longtime postal worker, and is retiring at the end of July. He also served 25 years in the U.S. Navy.

“I want to do my civic duty, and try to bring some fresh ideas and fresh thinking to the board,” Pope said. “(CLW) needs to grow its (customer) base, and I’m trying to think of creative ways to increase the base and the profit margin to keep rates down.”

Pope said he thought the city should weigh annexation to increase the customer base, but also mentioned remediating dilapidated housing.

“You’ve got a bunch of abandoned houses, and if they were occupied there’s a few hundred more customers,” Pope said. “… Things like that may not have a whole lot of impact, but as it grows the profit margin won’t be so small.”

Runnels has more than 30 years of experience working in city government. He has previously served as mayor of Canton; economic development director in West Memphis, Arkansas; and as city managers in Grenada and Gautier. He currently works as a funeral director at Lowndes Funeral Home.

Runnels pointed to his years of experience working with utilities during his time in city government.

“With the experience I have in dealing with different utility commissions throughout my 33 years, I’ve dealt with (water, sewer and gas),” Runnels said. “I feel like my experience will be a valuable asset to the commission. I’m in this to see if I can make Columbus better.”

Runnels said he didn’t have any specific goals in mind, should he be appointed.

“I think the main thing is proving efficient energy at the most reasonable cost and still maintain quality of equipment and operations,” Runnels said. “Beyond that I would need to get in there and see what we need to do as a commission. I couldn’t assess that right now.”

Edwards was appointed to the CLW board in June 2018, replacing Tiffany Turner, who did not seek reappointment.

Brian Jones is the local government reporter for Columbus and Lowndes County.