Washington council split on ward 1 replacement

Tuesday night marked the final municipal meeting for Council Member Danielle Pettit-Majewski, who resigned after a budget work session citing her move to Johnson County, where she is now the director of public health.

“It’s been a pleasure to serve with you all,” Pettit-Majewski said. “I wanted to run because I wanted to be able to be on the policy decision making end to improve our community … I have learned, in serving, that it is so much more, and have such a respect for the people of this community.”

City officials took a moment to express their gratitude to their outgoing colleague.

“I would like to take a moment and thank council member Danielle Pettit-Majewski for her service in Ward 1,” Mayor Jaron Rosien said. “This job can be rewarding, it can occasionally be thankless, so it’s nice to take a moment to say thank you.”

Matters got messier, however, on the subject of replacing Pettit-Majewski’s position, with council members split between appointing a successor and putting the position up for a special election.

Rosien said two applicants had their names in the hat for an appointment: Bethany Glinsmann — a member of activist group Washington for Justice — and Daren DeLong, the current chair of Washington’s Planning and Zoning Commission.

Council Member Millie Youngquist made a motion to put the seat up for a special election, seconded by Council Member Illa Earnest.

“I feel we have two qualified people, I don’t feel that I or we should be making the decision between the two,” Youngquist said. “I think that should be the voters.”

That motion failed, however, in a 2-3 vote, with all other council members voting no.

That left the council with a motion to appoint a successor, unspecified at this time. The motion was made by Council Member Fran Stigers and seconded by Council Member Steve Gault, both saying the speed of an appointment made it preferable during a tight budget season timeline.

“I think we need a person on board right away,” Stigers said. “The next few (budget) workshops, we’re actually going to have to dig into it. I think getting someone on that we can use as far as knowledge is a good thing, and we can do that right away.”

That motion passed 3-2, with Earnest and Youngquist voting against. The decision contradicted the recommendations of Rosien.

“I’m hearing mixed opinions, and for that reason I think a special election is the way to go,” he said. “If we don’t have a unanimous appointment, then that’s not a good start to filling the role, because then you’re seating a council member, potentially, that had half the people vote for on council, and half the people not.”

The issue is magnified by deadlines in the Iowa state code for special elections. While an appointment could be resolved well before the March 1 special election date, a public petition rejecting that appointment would likely come too late for the state-mandated election notice, bumping election day back to Sept. 13, according to the secretary of state website. While a quick council decision to hold a March 1 election would meet public notice requirements, it would lock out Ward 1 representation during budget talks.

“I’m thinking even if we appointed, there would probably a petition coming forward by one or more potential candidates so that we would delay the election even further,” Earnest said. “We have good candidates there to appoint, but … if we just schedule the election, the public can decide.”

Rosien said he was tempted to table the 3-2 resolution, but opted not to.

“Vetoing would serve no purpose because there’s still a majority, we would be faced with the same problem, it would kick it down the road,” he said. “It hasn’t been my practice to veto council decisions, I don’t see that purpose. There was a majority vote and we have our direction. I disagree with that direction, but respect it.”

While the resolution signals the city’s intent to appoint a successor, Rosien said it could still be reversed.

“As I try to lobby council, we have a meeting on the first, a meeting on the fifteenth,” he said. “If council sees fit, they could change their mind.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com