The Special Election Issue

The Kimball City Council was scheduled to meet this week on Tuesday evening.

Several significant items appeared on the agenda, including under Current Business this item: “Approve and Authorize Special Election to fill Council vacancy on such date as required or allowed per statute.”

At issue was whether the three sitting members of the Kimball City Council should decide to fill the fourth seat by a special election. Filling some vacancies without elections has not gone smoothly for the city this past year.

At the time that this article was written, no decision on the special election had been made, but such a special election would come with certain conditions for the city.

Under such a situation, according to the Kimball County Clerk’s Office, the city would have to pay for printing, publication, ballots, poll workers and every cost associated with the special election.

County Clerk Cathy Sibal estimated that the cost of a special election, in this case, would between $6,000 to $8,000.

Were a special election date to be set, the city would have a two to three week filing period for candidates to file for the vacancy.

The County Clerk’s office reported that they have experienced five or six special elections over the past 20-plus years, which have included the Village of Bushnell, recall elections and the hospital bond votes.

Annette Brower, Kimball city clerk, stated that the date for a potential special election could be three to four months down the road because the city would have to give election officials a 50-day notice pursuant to statue 32-559.

Items are placed on the council agenda at the request of the mayor, the city council itself or the public, or for any city business that needs to be addressed.