COUNTY — The race to replace Ben Trotter as the Liberty-area representative on the board of trustees of the School District of Pickens County (SDPC) is beginning to take shape.

Filing opened Friday for the special April 1 election, which will fill the unexpired term of Trotter whose resignation from the District 4 seat earlier this month will be effective Feb. 1.

On the first day of filing, former SDPC building program director Bob Folkman and Tri-County Technical College Easley campus director Brian Swords threw their names into the hat to replace Trotter.

Folkman guided the school district’s building program through many twists and turn, but has been praised for the success of the program, which provided the district with four new high schools and a new career and technology center, among other facility improvements.

Swords, a lifelong Pickens County resident, has served in various capacities throughout the county and in the Easley area, working with the Greater Easley Chamber of Commerce, the Easley Rotary Club, Leadership Pickens County, Southern Wesleyan University and more. He has been director of Tri-County’s Easley campus since it opened in 2011.

Roy Costner, who Trotter defeated in the November 2010 election to earn the seat, has also announced that he will file for the April race, although his registration was not in as of Tuesday.

Filing will continue until noon on Monday at the office of the Pickens County Registration and Elections Commission, located inside the county administration facility at 222 McDaniel Avenue in Pickens. Filing is open during normal business hours, and at the time of filing, each candidate must submit a completed Statement of Intention of Candidacy form and pay a filing fee of $100. Checks must be made payable to the Pickens County Treasurer.