Butler native Maggie Stock has announced her candidacy for mayor of the city and will file her petition to run as a Democrat in the May primary.

Stock, 53, says her candidacy isn't about being a Democrat.

"It's not about party, it's about being mayor," she said Thursday from her office at Butler County Community College in Butler Township, where Stock has taught English and other classes since 1985.

Butler residents may remember Stock from her role as organizer of the first "Ring In the Arts," the New Year's Eve celebration held throughout the city's downtown.

Stock said there are good projects and ideas to improve Butler and she wants to become mayor to better promote those ideas and shepherd them to completion.

"The city is on the brink of many wonderful projects that can mean a wonderful future for Butler, like the revitalization of Main Street, as well as the Pullman area," Stock said.

"I believe the Main Street project is pivotal for the city because positive things will happen in the city if we work to revitalize the core of our community," she said. "Our town can be as wonderful as we want it to be. We just have to step up to the plate and work together."

As for the city's four-year financial crisis, Stock said that her experiences managing a myriad of community groups, as well as her work as a grant writer, will help to move the city to better financial footings.

"Most organizations, not unlike Butler, face financial challenges," said Stock, "and I have found that when we actively work together, making operations more efficient, using creative thinking to come up with new ways to use the money we have as well as find new money sources, then financial challenges are manageable."

Mayor Leonard Pintell has announced he will not run for re-election this year after serving one term in the office.

Former mayor Richard Schontz has announced his candidacy. He is also a Democrat.

Candidates have until Tuesday to return their petitions for office to the Butler County Bureau of Elections.

Stock is a member of the Blazing Star Choral Society, the Butler Arts Council, the Butler Symphony and currently serves as president of the Butler Chapter of American Association of University Women.

She graduated from Butler High School in 1969, and earned a bachelor's of art degree in English from Slippery Rock University and a masters of art degree in English from Eastern New Mexico University.

She taught high school English in a Maryland suburb and worked as a technical writer for Computer Science Corp., in Washington, D.C., before returning to Butler in 1982, where she worked as a substitute teacher and freelance writer.