Washington will likely elect new council member

WASHINGTON — In a sudden reversal from previous plans, the city of Washington now appears poised to hold a special election for its open seat. The at-large position was vacated by Millie Youngquist, who recently won a separate race for the mayor’s office, following the resignation of former mayor Jaron Rosien.

The move was surprising, after multiple municipal leaders emphasized the advantages of an appointment which would fill the vacancy sooner and cost less than holding yet another election in a year already filled with campaigns up and down the ballot.

“We’ve been operating with a partial council for 16 months,” Mayor Millie Youngquist said, referencing her lengthy term as mayor pro tem during Rosien’s leave of absence. “As it is now, if more than one of us is absent, we wouldn’t have a quorum, and we can’t conduct any business. So with the summer months coming, that’s concerning.”

But after four city residents applied for the expected appointment, current council members said they couldn’t decide between the options.

A motion to instead pursue a special election passed on a 4-1 vote.

“It’s a hard decision, honestly,” said Council Member Ivan Rangel. “We need to have a special election, in my thoughts. They’re all good, that’s how I feel.”

The call came after three of the applicants — Jennine Wolf, Kenneth (Roger) Schroeder and Jennifer Durst — presented their elevator pitches to council members, and answered questions from the group about their priorities and goals for the city. Rob Meyer, the fourth applicant, later said he missed the meeting because he had to work late.

It also followed a motion to appoint Wolf to the position, which failed on a 2-3 tally, with only Council Members Illa Earnest and Elaine Moore voting in favor.

Both said they admired Wolf’s history of public service, including an eight-year stint as Washington County Environmental Health Director where she frequently worked with federal, state and local government codes. While some of the other applicants have worked on private and nonprofit boards before, none had served in government positions.

“I would ask the other candidates … I hope you would become more involved in the local committees, (like) hotel/motel,” Earnest said. “There’s activities there that, I would hope you’d want to get your feet wet first, on some of these committees, and get acquainted with folks and also see what people are already doing.”

But other elected officials said they disagreed. On top of Rangel’s wish to hold a special election, Council Member Pat Morgan expressed some skepticism about the experience-centered rhetoric.

Morgan won his own seat last November, where he ran unopposed. His only municipal experience at the time was a spot on a temporary parking ordinance advisory board.

“My path is a little bit different, I sort of engaged myself a couple years ago when I showed interest,” he said. “For me, personally, what I’m looking for is an open mind, a different way of thinking … We should be looking for that different thinking, or aptitude, from someone else.”

Fran Stigers also voted against Wolf’s appointment, after about 20 seconds of hesitation when his name was called. He also voted no on the motion to hold a special election, a few minutes later.

Asked after the meeting about his rationale, Stigers said he would’ve voted against any applicant, being unable to decide between them. But he still voted down the special election on principle because of its cost and delays, despite expecting the motion to pass.

“I wanted to go with appointment to save us the time and the money,” he said. “But after seeing what we couldn’t accomplish between the five of us, there’s no other way to go. But I still haven’t lost my thought that it would save us money or time if we didn’t (hold an election.) It was still going to pass, no matter what I did.”

Date, candidates for special election unclear

Technically, the city’s special election plan isn’t official yet. Public notice laws prevented a vote on the matter Tuesday night, as the unplanned option was not posted in advance on the meeting’s agenda.

That said, city officials expect to settle on a date and vote to approve a special election in a few weeks.

“By the time we get to the next meeting, we can figure out what date options we have,” City Attorney Kevin Olson said. “There’s a state law about how close you can be to the primaries, so that’s why you’re going to get pushed back a little bit.”

There are plenty of clues about the time frame, however.

State law requires that cities give their county auditors at least 32 days’ notice before holding a special election, according to the Iowa League of Cities. Additionally, Iowa Code Chapter 39 forbids special elections within four weeks of a regularly scheduled primary election.

With no motion planned until the council’s June 4 meeting — which coincidentally shares a date with Iowa’s primary election night — and Iowa elections restricted to Tuesdays, the earliest conceivable date would be July 9.

However, city staff say Washington County had advised them not to plan an election within a week of the July 14-19 Washington County Fair, due to scheduling conflicts at Dallmeyer Hall, a newly established polling place located on the fairgrounds. That pushes back the earliest expected date to July 30.

It’s not clear whether the auditor’s office would consider changing polling places to accommodate an earlier date, or even if the city would want them to. For years, until the mayoral special election on April 30, members of Washington’s fourth ward voted at Halcyon House, but some voters complained of minimal parking and confusing entrances at the retirement community on South Iowa Avenue.

Also unknown is who will run for the office.

While four contenders put their names in the hat for an appointment, candidates for a special election could submit nomination paperwork whether they were on that list or not. The inverse is also true: those considered by the council Tuesday night must still file as candidates if they want to see their name on the ballot.

Of the four applicants, Meyer and Durst said after the meeting that they planned to run in the anticipated race. Schroeder and Wolf said they were undecided.

Current council members encouraged all of the applicants campaign for the position. Whoever ends up in the seat will serve until the end of the at-large office’s term, in 2027.

“I want to thank the folks that spoke here tonight,” Morgan said. “I would say, please, just because we didn’t make a decision here tonight, please move forward during the special election. It’ll allow others to speak in the community, and I think that’s what we need.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com