I filed my petitions for the school board race this afternoon, so I'm in, as is Jay Niedert.
"So," I said to Cindy Callies, the school district business manager, "do we have a race yet?"
"If we get one more," she replied.
Wait a minute -- we've got three seats available, two people filed... we still need two more to need an election, right?
Surprise! There are three seats available, but two are three-year terms and one, the one Gwen Thomson was appointed to last year, is just a two-year term. Your petition specifies which term you are seeking, the three-year or the two-year. Jay and I have both filed for the three-year. If the third circulator (rumor getting to me says it's Tammy Jo Zingmark) files for the three-year term, we have an election. The voters get the top two, and the school board still appoints a person of their choosing for the two-year term (or at least the next year of that term).
Make sense? Try this one: Suppose two more people file petitions, and both file for the two-year term. Then we'd have an election, but only between those two people, and Jay and I, the only two seeking the three-year term, join the board unopposed.
So those of you still circulating petitions... well, first of all, drop me a line, give the Madville Times the scoop! Then check your petition, make sure you know which length term you're running for.
By the way, if there is an election, Cindy Callies will conduct the drawing for order of names on the ballot Monday morning, March 3, 8 a.m., in her office. The petition filing deadline is 5 p.m. tomorrow, Friday. Since the Leader won't publish until Monday afternoon, and KJAM's crack news staff will all be occupied covering the big Friday basketball games, there may be no public notice of whether there will be a ballot order drawing until after the drawing has happened. Cindy's advice: call her office at 5:01 p.m. tomorrow.
Fellow candidates, that number is 256-7710. If it's busy, be patient: I won't keep Cindy on the line long.
It would be nice to have a strong number of candidates for school board. That way we have a choice and can compare the qualifications before voting. It gives the public an opportunity to be involved in the selection. There is still a petition or two circullating.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely right, Anon! The more the merrier! The public needs to be involved: I hope we get at least a couple more for the 3-year terms and at least three for Gwen's 2-year. Tell your friends -- go get those petitions!
ReplyDelete(by the way -- who else is circulating? the suspense is killing me! ;-) )
Well then, do the darn drawing an hour earlier, so we can get it on the Daylight Final! We have deadlines too, ya know :)
ReplyDeleteActually, if you drop me a line, I'll try and get it on Saturday... It's my turn in the Saturday sign-on rotation.
If there are three open seats and three people running, regardless of length of term, just draw out of a hat for the different terms. Why need separate elections for varying terms? That's just unnecessarily complicating the process.
ReplyDeleteNonnie
Nonnie: The law requires specific nominating petitions for specific offices and terms. Had someone circullated a petition that was undesignated, it could easily be thrown out as "incomplete".
ReplyDeleteThis is no different than two years ago when I ran for a two-year seat on school board. Under the board reduction plan, two seats were three-year and one was two-year. I opted for the two-year.
This year, technically, they're all 3-year seats, but one of them was appointed last July, so the remaining two years must be filled on that term. That is why it is a specific two-year term. It seems confusing, but under the law it has to be carried out with specific terms.
Rod Goeman