How much is enough? That sounds like one of those tricky, Zen-like questions – unless, of course, it happens to be in reference to the Pueblo mayor’s race. In which case the answer is, “Come on in! There’s always room for more!”

And so the Pueblo Chieftain’s man at City Hall reports that former Army sergeant and Department of Justice lawman Gary Clark has joined the fray vying for the newly restored mayor’s post in next fall’s election. The 56-year-old political novice, writes the Chieftain’s Ryan Severance, “believes his military and professional careers have molded him into a strong leader.”

As Severance conveniently recaps for us:

Clark is the ninth candidate to join the race for mayor. The others, thus far, are former Council President Steve Nawrocki, lawyer Nick Gradisar, former Oklahoma University debate instructor Jackie Massey, East Side activist Janet Wilson, newcomer Russell Martinez, former Councilwoman Lori Winner, current Councilman Larry Atencio and newcomer Nicholas Ayers.

Puebloans passed a ballot measure last fall reinstating the mayor’s post and vesting it with powers that top anything wielded by the City Council. Notably, the mayor gets to run the city as the its full-time chief executive, replacing the city manager. It’s a “strong mayor” form of local government – the kind implemented long ago in Denver and adopted by voters in Colorado Springs in 2010.

Pueblo voters will pick their new mayor in next November’s general election – unless a second, runoff election is necessary. That phase of the process its still being fine-tuned by the City Council. You can read a recap of that issue here.