ST. PETERS   •   Mayor Len Pagano, St. Peters' mayor since 2007, is running for a third full four-year term in the municipal election next April.
Pagano on Thursday confirmed his re-election campaign plans and said he'll make a formal announcement at the end of the month.
"I still have a mission to complete," he said, referring to the city's controversial Premier 370 business park in the Mississippi River flood plain.
Development of the site has been slow-moving amid opponents' lawsuits — eventually won by the city — and lingering effects of the 2008 recession.
Pagano and other city officials say things are looking up lately at the site, with Duke Realty's plans announced in February for a 500,000-square-foot warehouse and office building.
It's unclear now whether anyone will run against Pagano. One potential candidate, Republican state Rep. Ron Hicks, said he had been asked by a group of people to run but he decided against it.
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"I mulled it over," Hicks said earlier this month. "I don't think I'm ready for that avenue."
Pagano, 70, was first elected mayor in 2007 to fill the final year in the term of Shawn Brown after Brown's bribery conviction. In that race, Pagano defeated five other candidates.
In 2008 and 2012, he ran unopposed for re-election.
Before becoming mayor he already was a familiar name in local politics from his 24 years' service as a St. Peters alderman and unsuccessful races for mayor and county assessor. He is a retired warehouse coordinator for Unilever Corp.