HERMANN — When Rachel Brinker of Hermann was interviewing for an open seat on the Gasconade County Enhanced-911 board earlier this year, she said she wanted to increase her civic involvement in the community. She’s trying to do that in a big way.

Brinker, the owner-operator of a T-shirt and sign company in Hermann’s Bavarian Hills Plaza, has filed not only to retain her seat on the 911 board but also for one of the three seat to be filled in April on the Gasconade County R-1 School District board.

Although the April 7 ballot is expected to be a crowded one, offering voters choices for local-government offices to fill as well as proposals for taxes and bond issues, filing for the elected offices has been slow in the initial days of the filing period.

For example, Brinker is one of only two candidates to file for one of the three open seats on the R-1 Board of Directors, as of Monday. The other candidate is Chad Walton, member of the Hermann Board of Aldermen.

None of the three R-1 board incumbents — President Jeff Englert and Directors Amy Granneman and Ashley Kopp — have filed. It’s believed that Kopp, a licensed clinical social worker and professional counselor, will not seek a second 3-year term on the panel. A former counselor at Southwest Medical Associates, Kopp left the clinic to operate her own counseling service in Washington and that has taken much of her time during the past year, resulting in scheduling conflicts with R-1 board activities.

Earlier this year, Brinker was one of three applicants for an open Northern District seat on the 911 board, a vacancy created when Hermann Area Ambulance District Administrator Mike Mueller, a member of the 911 board, was named to succeed retiring board President Betty Estes. Mueller’s move into the president’s seat, which is elected in an at-large vote countywide, opened his Northern District seat.

Mueller has filed for outright election as the at-large director on the 7-member board.

Filing this week as a candidate for the Southern District board position was the former director of the E-911 program, Lisa Thacker.

In the city of Hermann, filing has been limited to the incumbents and one newcomer looking to fill an open position. Mayor Bruce Cox, Ward 1 Alderman Dolores Grannemann and Ward 2 Alderman Ash Geers all filed for another 2-year term.

Vicky Keslar has filed for the office of City Collector.