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Vacancies remain as filing period expires

Election 2022

Justin Addison, Editor/Publisher
Posted 1/4/22

The City of Fayette will have a limited government following the April 5 municipal election. Nobody filed for open seats on the East and Southwest wards, and a seat on the Northwest Ward will be …

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Vacancies remain as filing period expires

Election 2022

Posted

The City of Fayette will have a limited government following the April 5 municipal election. Nobody filed for open seats on the East and Southwest wards, and a seat on the Northwest Ward will be vacated in the likely event that Alderman Jeremy Dawson is elected Mayor. Dawson is the only person running for the position of Mayor after incumbent Kevin Oeth declined to seek re-election.

These vacancies would leave the council without a four-person quorum, which it must have to conduct business. However, there is a mechanism in place for such a situation. The “Rule of Necessity” allows for a majority of remaining alderpersons to approve new appointees made by the mayor. Two of the three remaining council members must approve the next appointee. Once he or she is sworn into office, a quorum would be reached and three of the four members would need to vote in favor of a fifth appointee. If at that time another alderperson is approved, a three-member majority must again be reached to approve a sixth and final member. Any alderperson who is appointed may serve until the next municipal election, regardless of when the term expires, so that he or she is approved by voters to finish out any time of service.

The rule does not necessarily allow the Board of Alderman to go about city business with less than a quorum, however. Given the difficulty in recent years to find willing appointees to various council seats, this could put the city government in a precarious position.

Incumbent Southwest Ward Alderwoman Hope Smith did not seek re-election. East Ward Alderman Joe Parisi, who was appointed to the position after Kylie Tillman vacated the seat when she moved out of that ward, did not file for election to finish out the term in 2023. He will hold the seat until the election, after which time the mayor must appoint a new alderperson.

Northwest Ward Alderwoman Michelle Ishmael will run unopposed to fill out the remainder of that seat’s term. She was appointed on October 12 to occupy the seat held by Marc Wells who passed away on August 6.

Also running unopposed is City Marshal David Ford. He was appointed in November 2020 to take over the position after then-police-chief Jeff Oswald was elected as the Howard County Sheriff. Ford was sworn into office in December 2020 and was elected without opposition in April 2021 to finish out the term.

The City of New Franklin will also have an incomplete council following the April election. Ward 1 incumbent Tyler Eaton did not seek re-election, and Ward 1 appointee Seth Hallowell did not run to fill out the remainder of the term. However, Robbie Harvey, who took over as Mayor following the July resignation of Mayor Newt Arbogast, has filed to complete the term. He will run unopposed.

Also running unopposed are Ward 3 incumbent Todd Baslee and Lesley Lyons, who was appointed as Ward 2 Alderwoman when Harvey became mayor.

The only contested municipal race in Howard County will be for the South Ward city council seat in Glasgow. Incumbent Joe Gibbs will face challenger Michael Carter on the April 5 ballot. Incumbents Eric Monnig and Larry Neville, in the North and Central wards, respectively, will run unopposed.

Candidates in Franklin and Armstrong will also not face opposition. Christopher DeGraffenreid and Korey Wood, East and West ward incumbents, respectively, have both filed for re-election.

In Franklin, incumbent Tammy Nundley-Wilkerson has filed for the Ward 1 seat, and newcomer Tommy Howard has filed for Ward 2.

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