GEARHART — Kerry Smith and Paulina Cockrum will seek a return to the Gearhart City Council.

Smith and Cockrum made their re-election campaign announcements at Wednesday’s council meeting. So far, they are the only candidates.

Smith, a Gearhart resident for more than 30 years, worked in the home construction industry and with the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System. He was elected to the council’s District 1 seat in 2014, defeating incumbent Al Carder.

Smith said he enjoys the work and working with the council. “I’d like to see us bring Gearhart into the 21st century completely — but stay small, stay friendly and not lose sight of that,” he said.

Originally from Seattle, Cockrum is a nurse at Columbia Memorial Hospital in Astoria and was selected by the governor to serve on the Coordinated Care Organization Criteria Work Group. A former member of the Gearhart Planning Commission, Cockrum was appointed by Mayor Dianne Widdop to fill the unexpired term of City Councilor John Duncan in District 3 after Duncan died in 2015.

Cockrum serves on the city’s Community Emergency Response Team.

“Most importantly, I would like to be an advocate for our current comprehensive plan and make sure we’re following that in every subject that comes to us, any development we undertake,” Cockrum said after the meeting.

She characterized her time on the council as positive and praised the council’s ability to compromise.