City approves election changes

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Based on a bill passed by the Kansas Legislature in 2015, the city of Fort Scott must make some changes regarding city elections.

During its Tuesday meeting, the Fort Scott City Commission and other city officials discussed the impact of House Bill 2104, which Gov. Sam Brownback approved in June. The bill moves city elections from April of odd-numbered years to November of odd-numbered years starting in 2017.

Because of the changes made by the legislature, the city is required to adopt an ordinance creating new sections in the city's municipal code governing the terms and election of commissioners and changing the date of city commissioner elections.

City Clerk Diane Clay said the main changes for the city after the new ordinance goes into effect are the filing dates for commission candidates and the expiration dates of commissioners' terms.

"They used to file with the city clerk and now they will file with the county clerk," Clay said. "We have to adopt a new ordinance."

Following a discussion, commissioners approved a new ordinance, with Commissioner Lucas Cosens representing the only "no" vote.

Starting in 2017, election dates for specified units of local government will mirror the election dates for elections held in even-numbered years. Primary elections will be held on the first Tuesday in August and general elections will take place on the Tuesday following the first Monday in November, according to a summary of the bill at www.kslegislature.org.

City Attorney Bob Farmer said the change for the city is a "housekeeping deal."

"Spring elections will move to November," he said. "The election has to change. The ordinance establishes a rotation in 2017. And everybody can see it; it's out there. The only thing changing is it will be November of 2017 instead of in the spring. It will be in conjunction with the federal election."

Farmer also said the change is an "economic thing."

"It's running it all at the same time to save a little extra cash," he said. "But a lot of things are driven by pure economics now."

Mayor Cindy Bartelsmeyer said she has learned "a lot of municipalities" are not in favor of the change in elections, which will also affect school board elections.

"But that's the way things are now," she said.