Langley voters will decide a primary election for at least the mayor’s office this fall.

Sharon Emerson, a vocal critic of the Langley funicular idea, jumped into the race Monday after being on the fence this past week. She joined a race that already had two challengers, Tim Callison and Thomas Gill, to be the next mayor of Langley on the first day of Island County’s election filing week, which ends May 15.

Emerson said she was undecided through the past week and wanted to consider it thoughtfully before declaring if she would seek office.

“It’s a really serious thing to run for office, it’s a lot of responsibility,” Emerson said by phone Monday. “I needed time to think about it to make sure I was ready to commit. I’m not a quitter.”

“I really care and want to do it,” she added.

She and Callison are both new to public elections. They are familiar with City Hall, however, and regularly attend city council meetings.

Both sought a city council appointment along with Robin Black, who is married to Callison and was eventually picked to take over the vacated post, in 2014.

Callison said he chose to run for mayor because his experience as a corporate executive lends itself well to managing personnel. He was not surprised to learn Emerson chose to run and said the three candidates are starkly different from one another.

“We’re about as separate as you can be,” Callison said. “We’re very distinctive in terms of our experience, education, exposure to the world at large.”

Gill is a city councilman and he previously sought to be appointed as mayor in 2013 before being voted in unopposed that fall as a city councilman. The youngest of the three, Gill has been around city meetings for years after seeking a city council position in 2010 and not being elected. He joined the Planning Advisory Board before being voted onto the council.

“I know what the city’s already tried and didn’t work,” Gill said.

Not even 24 hours into his official campaign, Callison learned the sensitivities of being in the public eye when he sent out his announcement via an email to about 600 people. It upset about 15 of the recipients, at least one of whom questioned if he was using the email list of Mayor Fred McCarthy, who is not seeking re-election, for political purposes.

The list was open so recipients could see each others email addresses.

Callison denied that it was the mayor’s list, and said the email addresses were collected over the past few weeks from various groups and notices he is part of, such as the Langley Men’s Club and Island Dance. Anyone who voiced issue with receiving the email and communicated that concern to Callison was removed from the “email blast,” he said.

“I know I compounded the problem by copying all rather than blind copying,” Callison said in a phone interview Tuesday morning. “I apologize for that.”

Had the list come from the mayor, it may not have constituted a breach of state rules as the email addresses sent to the city become public documents and are subject to disclosure. Some complained, however, that it was a breach of privacy, and voiced concerns about being implicated as Callison supporters when they may not be.

Callison said he may never use the email list again and instead resort to mailing flyers. The lesson was well learned, he said.

“I felt really bad, I didn’t sleep last night,” Callison said. “I’m heartsick about it.”

Robin Black, who was appointed to an unexpired city council term in June 2014, also filed with the Island County elections office Monday. She is seeking to serve the remainder of a term that was vacated after Margot Jerome moved from Langley midway through 2014.

No one filed for the other Langley City Council positions up for election this fall. Jim Sundberg announced he would not run for re-election, and Councilman Bruce Allen had not yet filed, though he said the past week he intended to do so.

Other South End seats

A new candidate filed for the South Whidbey School District board of directors. Shawn Nowlin, a parent with a student in the district, filed for position 4 which is currently held by Steve Scoles. The longtime school board director decided to forego election this fall after more than a decade on the board.

School board director Linda Racicot, a retired teacher, filed for her second term. As was expected, Port of South Whidbey incumbents Ed Halloran and Jack Ng filed for election for the commissioner positions. South Whidbey Fire/EMS did not have a candidate for its lone commissioner position up for a vote this year. Mike Helland announced this past week he would not seek re-election, citing a need to focus on his family.