The three seats up for election on Nov. 3 are currently held by Phil Harris, who is not seeking reelection, along with Joyce Overton and Russell Perdock.
Last week, when the final filing deadline closed, only Overton and David Claffey, who sits on the city’s marketing committee, had qualified as candidates.
Perdock did not receive enough qualified signatures; candidates must be nominated by no fewer than 20 and no more than 30 registered voters who live in the city limits.
That put the city in the unusual position of having not enough candidates for seats. So city staff asked the council Wednesday afternoon to decide how to approach the situation, which it did during a brief meeting.
“We’re in a unique position tonight, one that doesn’t happen very often,” City Attorney Ryan Jones explained.
Before the council discussed the matter, both Overton and Perdock recused themselves and left the council chambers.
With those two council members recusing, Jones said any resolution or action would need to be supported by the majority of the council – leaving the decision up to Harris, Mayor Russ Cremer and Vice Mayor Dirk Slooten.
Based on election law, the council had to decide on whether to make appointments to fill the seats 75 days before the election, in this case, Aug. 20. Jones said that meant that the council was down to its last day to make the decision.
He presented three options to them.
The first, which Jones called “the default,” is what would happen even without council action. Jones said that option meant going forward with the election even with only two qualified candidates.
At the same time, a qualified write-in candidate could seek the third seat. If there are more than one write-in candidate, Jones said the top write-in vote-getter would get the third seat.
The second option Jones offered was to appoint the two qualified candidates – Claffey and Overton – and then hold an election on Nov. 3 for the third open seat, which also would be contingent on having a qualified write-in candidate.
However, if nobody qualified as a write-in, Jones said the city would have to hold a special election at some point after Nov. 3. In that scenario, the city would have to cover the high cost for a special election – which Jones said could cost tens of thousands of dollars based on past experience – and also would leave the council with an open seat.
Jones’ third option was to appoint an individual for the unnominated third seat and hold an election for the other two seats.
Claffey, who was watching the meeting via Zoom, asked if appointing the two qualified candidates would handcuff them from making appointments over the next four years.
That, as it turned out, was a legitimate concern and one that Jones’ staff report had raised, as Jones said election law prevents a majority of the council from being appointed.
In the scenario where two council members were appointed, should another council member sometime in the near future resign, the council would end up having to hold a special election, he said.
Harris said he supported the first option, to let the election go forward for the two qualified candidates and a write-in candidate. He asked about the timeline for the write-in process.
Administrative Services Director/City Clerk Melissa Swanson said the write-in candidacy period would run from Sept. 7 to Oct. 20. Write-in candidates would have to file paperwork required by the Fair Political Practices Commission, fill out nomination papers and get between 20 and 30 qualified signatures of nomination.
Harris said he felt the first option – letting the election go forward for all three seats was the most economically sound method as well as the most versatile. Slooten said he concurred.
“I would agree, it’s the fairest way,” said Cremer, adding it also was probably the most transparent approach.
Harris moved to go forward with the election, which Slooten seconded and Cremer joined in approving 3-0.
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