One election, not two

Our Opinion / How any special election is structured could hugely affect the functionality of Fargo’s City Commission for months on end.

Some call it a potential conundrum. Sitting Fargo City Commissioners are required to tender their resignations should they choose to run for the mayor’s seat vacated when Denny Walaker died. Conceivably, that could result in a real mess.

Let’s look at this issue piece by piece.

The City Commission is required to set up a special election in order to fill any vacancy that occurs unless there is a regularly schedule election within six months time. Well, the next regular election is June 2016.

Further, the timing of any special election needs to include a public notice in the city’s official newspaper that gives notice of a 30 day window to petition and to file to run for the open mayor’s seat. Then, after that, such a filing deadline needs to be at least 64 days prior to any special election that is scheduled.

There are some potential problems that could surface. Exactly how the City Commission spells out the special election could resolve such problems, or exacerbate them.

For example, and this is only theoretical, but what if all four sitting commissioners decide they want to run for mayor. According to the city attorney, that means they’d have to resign to do that, and that their resignation would be effective at the start date of the new mayor’s term, approximately two weeks after any special mayoral election.

So, continuing with that particular example. Let’s say that Tim Mahoney, Mike Williams, Dave Piepkorn and Melissa Sobolik all decide to run for mayor. That means all four would be resigning.

Then, add to the mix the public expectation that Brad Wimmer will throw his hat in the ring again for mayor. If Wimmer were to win, all four sitting commissioners would be out. If one of the current commissioners were to win, then three of the commissioners there now would be gone. And who knows who else will be on the ballot?

Exactly how any special election is structured could hugely affect the functionality of Fargo’s City Commission for months on end.

For example, looking into the political kaleidoscope. What if the commission simply sets a special election for the mayor’s seat, and leaves the filling of any vacated commission seats to yet another special election. That means we would have an election for mayor within six months, and then another election for commissioners in the next six months after that. That also means a fractured commission, number wise, for up to a year, operating at less than full membership.

On the other hand, the commission absolutely could choose to set up the mayor’s special election such that it also becomes the special election for any commission seats open, if the willpower exists to do that.

Being as there is a requirement for 30 days to file for positions, and then another 64 days between the filing deadline and the election, our recommendation is to have a second filing period for commissioners that follows the filing window for mayoral candidates. That second filing period would hence be followed by an election for both mayor and any commission seats 64 days afterwards. Then, if any sitting commissioner opts to run, or even if they all opt to run, we will for certain have a full, five-member commission after the special election date.

And that’s important. With a four member commission, we have potential gridlock with 2-2 ties. There’s also legitimate concern about the ability of sitting commissioners to simply talk to each other without breaking state open meeting laws.

Worst case scenario, with all four incumbent commissioners running, we could have a mayor and no commissioners at all if the filing windows did not accommodate a special election for those open commission seats at the same time.

Now, getting real with these possible scenarios. We highly doubt that all four commissioners will run for mayor, especially if it requires their resignation. In fact, we’d be surprised if more than one – Tim Mahoney – file. Yet, the commission has to prepare for all scenarios as they plan the mayoral special election.

If the commission knows in fact who will be running for mayor from their ranks, they can plan the special election accordingly and assure one election for everything. Or, if they plan two separate and staggered filing periods, one for mayor followed by one for commission, they could also set the election for both at the same time and satisfying the 64 day minimum.

After this is all said and done, you can rest assured there will be discussions about how to tweak home rule charter and any requirements necessitating the resignation of a sitting commission for a vacant mayor’s seat, should that ever happen again, and hopefully it never will.

Bottom line, we need to do this in one election, period. There are problems otherwise and we can avoid those problems.

One election, with two filing deadlines, the first for mayor, the second for commissioners, not two elections. It’s not only possible, it’s necessary.