With the incumbent still not in the race, Ward Five now has two candidates hoping to take the seat.

Martha Arrington qualified Tuesday as a Republican seeking the Ward Five office.

A Brookhaven native, she joins Fletcher Grice in the race, a fellow Republican seeking the GOP nomination.

There are currently no Democratic or independent candidates and incumbent D.W. Maxwell has not yet declared his intention for this year’s municipal elections.

Arrington, 64, said she’s long wanted to participate in public life as an elected official and this year was the right time to try her hand. She’s never run for office before.

If she’s elected, Arrington is ready to get to work and sees plenty of it to do.

“We have a lot of unaddressed issues,” Arrington said.

Some of these issues Arrington highlighted include problems with water and sewer services and roads.

As an alderman, Arrington said she wants to be oriented around lasting remedies for what she sees as the infrastructure needs of the ward.

“We don’t need a band aid; we need a solution,” she said. “I want to be part of the solution.”

A lifelong resident of Brookhaven, Arrington worked 27 years as a legal secretary of Gerald Nation, a former city judge who passed away in 2006.

She works now as a mobile notary and feels her work experience is an asset to her campaign.

“I’ve dealt with the public all my life,” she said.

The public featured prominently in Arrington’s remarks about her campaign and goals for public office.

“I want to speak for the people,” she said. “Be their voice.

Looking beyond her ward, she said the ongoing efforts to install weather sirens in Brookhaven should be a priority.

She also joined other candidates vying for city office in declaring herself determined to see an industry located in the Linbrook Business Park.

In pursuing elected office, Arrington hopes to follow her father, father, Scheumann Day. He served as a Brookhaven alderman in the early 1950s.

Arrington will face Grice and any other GOP hopefuls in a May 7 primary, with the primary victor advancing to the June 4 general election.

Grice has sought the Ward Five office before, challenging Maxwell in 2009.

Candidates have until March 8 to qualify for city elections.