Process outlined for special election
CIty Council has yet to decide whether to appoint to fill vacant seats or to hold special electionBy ANNE BLANKENSHIP Daily Freeman-Journal Managing Editor
As the Webster City City Council continues to consider how to fill two seats left vacant by the resignation of Melissa Borer and Mark Gillette, city attorney Gary Groves offered an opinion concerning requirements for calling for a special election.
The Council has yet to decide whether to appoint new members or to hold a special election. At Monday's meeting, the Council passed a measure asking all people interested in serving on the Council to submit a letter of intent, resume and other pertinent information to be considered for an appointment. The deadline to submit the information is Nov. 30.
In his opinion, Groves said the effective date of the two resignations was Nov. 11.
"If the council chooses to fill the vacancies by appointment, the City must publish notice at least once in the local newspaper, which declares the Council's intent to fill the vacancies by appointment," Groves said. "The appointed shall be announced no sooner than four days nor more than 20 days after the date of publication; however, the appointments must be made no more than 40 days from the date the vacancies occurred."
Forty days from the time the resignations were received falls on Dec. 21, he said.
Groves explained that within 14 days after publication of the notice or within 14 days after the appointments are made, a petition may be filed with the city clerk, requesting that the vacancies be filled by a special election.
"If a petition is filed, those persons appointed to the council shall temporarily serve until the vacancies are filled by the results of a special election," Groves said. He added that if a special election is to be held, the city must give the Hamilton County auditor's office at least 32 days written notice of the date chosen for the elections. Vacancies must be permanently filled within 90 days of the resignations, or by Feb. 9, Groves said.
Determining the number of signatures required on the petition requesting a special election goes back to the city council election of Nov. 3. The number of signatures is determined by a formula that takes the total number of voters for the election, divided by the number of seats that were filled in that election.
"The required number of qualified signatures for a valid petition will be not less than 200 or the 'number of voters' as determined from the formula multiplied by 15 percent, whichever number is less," Groves noted.
He said that the city clerk advised there were 4,208 votes cast for the three council seats. Fifteen percent would be 210.
"Since 200 is less than 210, the required number of qualified signatures would be 200," Groves said.
For more information on, contact city hall, 832-9151.
Contact Anne Blankenship at editor@freemanjournal.net or call 832-4350.
