URBANA – It appears there will be a three-way race for mayor in Urbana.

Green Party candidate Durl Kruse and expected Republican candidate Rex Bradfield both filed petitions Friday to run for mayor in the April 7 election.

Meanwhile, incumbent Mayor Laurel Prussing, a Democrat, said in an interview that she'll file her candidacy petitions Monday to run for a second term as mayor.

Kruse, 2007 S. George Huff Drive, said he decided to run after it became clear that there would also be Green Party candidates for the city council: Gary Storm in Ward 7 and Mark Mallon in Ward 2. Both filed to run Friday as well.

Saying he intends to run "an issues-oriented campaign," Kruse said that one of his prime themes will be the need for "sustainable human development."

"I think it's the city's responsibility to look at human needs in the community that may need to be addressed," he said, mentioning the possibility of creating a city social services coordinator.

With likely job losses and foreclosures in coming months, city residents are likely going to need more help than they have in the past, he said.

Kruse is a 59-year-old retired Mattoon school administrator and principal who moved to Urbana five years ago with his wife, Jan. He has been in recent years an active proponent of instant-runoff voting, and tried twice to put advisory referendums on the ballot asking voters if they would favor a switch to instant-runoff voting, where voters rank order candidates.

In both cases, Prussing helped pack town meetings with residents who opposed instant-runoff voting and kept the proposed advisory referendums off the ballot. A Ward 7 resident, Kruse ran for the city council in 2005 as a Democrat and lost in the primary to Lynne Barnes, who was elected to the city council.

Bradfield could not be reached for comment Friday. He is an engineer and land surveyor who ran for state representative in 2006 and lost by about a 2-to-1 margin to incumbent state Rep. Naomi Jakobsson, D-Urbana.

Meanwhile, Prussing said Friday she wants another term as mayor and will run on her record and "my vision for the future of Urbana."

"I think we've had a really good four years," she said. "We (she and the city council) sat down and figured out what our priorities are and we've achieved most of them. I think we're in very good shape."

She said the city has added new retailers during her tenure, including Wal-Mart and Meijer, and overseen the revitalization of the South Philo Road corridor. The city has also enacted rental registration and implemented a stepped-up rental inspection program for both apartments and single-family homes and duplexes.

The city also has made progress on implementing bike lanes and paths, and has created a civilian police review board, a sustainability advisory commission and a public arts commission.

Incumbent Ward 1 alderman Charlie Smyth, a Democrat, also filed Friday to run for re-election. Incumbent aldermen Brandon Bowersox, D-Ward 5, Robert Lewis, D-Ward 3, and Heather Stevenson, R-Ward 6, filed earlier this week, as did newcomer Diane Marlin, a Democrat, in Ward 7.

In Cunningham Township, Dan Stebbins, 36, has filed to run for township assessor as a Democrat. Thirty-year Township Assessor Joanne Chester is stepping down where her term ends on Jan. 1, 2010.

Stebbins has been a member since 1999 of the Champaign County Board of Review, which hears property tax complaints from county residents. He has a real estate license and has his certified Illinois assessment official certificate.

"It seems like a logical step from the Board of Review to township assessor," he said. "I have experience. I enjoy talking to taxpayers and helping senior citizens get their exemptions."