Shari Kilmer, a retired educator with 32 years in the classroom, is running for one of six seats on Florence City Council in the Nov. 3 election.

Kilmer, who filed her candidacy Jan. 5, is one of 12 candidates competing for the at-large seats, according to Boone County Clerk records. The field includes four incumbents — David Schneider, Lesley Chambers, Gary Winn and Angie Cable — and eight newcomers, as LINK nky reported in January.

Council members serve two-year terms.

Kilmer, who last taught at Longbranch Elementary School, wrote in an Oct. 12 op-ed in the Northern Kentucky Tribune that her biggest takeaway from months of door-knocking was simple: residents want to be heard. She said she spent the summer walking door to door, hanging nearly 7,500 door hangers in 100-degree heat and talking with residents at fairs, festivals and community events.

Residents told her about development, traffic, public safety and city services, she wrote. Some shared stories about how they came to Florence. Others offered her water and lemonade on their porches.

"I don't know, but I can find out," Kilmer wrote in the Tribune op-ed, borrowing a phrase she said she used for years with her students. She said she applied the same approach when residents asked questions she could not answer on the spot.

She wrote that she attended meetings where those issues were discussed. She wrote in a separate May op-ed in the Tribune that she served on her school's Site-Based Decision Making Council, where teachers, administrators and community members set policies together.

Her father served on Florence City Council in the 1980s, and her mother volunteered in the community for years, including at the Florence Senior Center, Kilmer wrote. She was born and raised in Florence, attended local schools and raised her family in the city.

All Florence council races are non-partisan. The other newcomers in the race are Jim Leach, Diane Whalen, Joe Berkshire, Duane Froelicher, Aaron Gillum, Brian Kinross and Jeffrey R. Whittaker, according to the clerk's filing list.

Florence City Council holds caucus meetings on the first and third Tuesdays and business meetings on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month at 6 p.m. at the Florence Government Center, 8100 Ewing Blvd.