Sheldon, Iowa — The Sheldon City Council is in the process of filling the unexpired term of 2nd Ward Councilman Shawn Broesder, who resigned March 15th. Broesder’s resgnation will become effective April 7th.
Sheldon City Manager Sam Kooiker says the council had the option of appointing someone to replace Broesder, or calling for a special election to fill the remainder of Broesder’s unexpired term, which will end December 31st. He says they decided to go the appointment route.
(As above) “At the March 24th meeting, the City Council opted to proceed with an appointment, due to the shortness of the time remaining in this term of office, which ends at the end of this year.”
Kooiker says voters in the 2nd Ward could still trigger an election, however.
(As above) “There will be two opportunities for the public to ask for an election by circulating a petition. The Notice will be published on April 7th that the vacancy is official. And ten signatures from Ward 2 voters can trigger an election. And those signatures can be collected between April 7th and April 21st.”
He says a second opportunity to call for an election comes after an appointment.
(As above) “After the appointment, there’s another 14-day window for the same to occur, for a petition to be circulated to ask for an election.
Kooiker tells us what happens if an election is held.
(As above) “If there is an election, then there is approximately a week for the candidates to submit ten signatures to run for the office. The earliest the election could be held would be May. If we didn’t receive the petition until the end of the second fourteen-day period, the election wouldn’t be until mid-June.”
The Sheldon City Council found themselves in a similar situation in 2019 when then-Mayor Katricia Meendering resigned her post to take a job as manager of the Crossroads Pavilion. The Council was set to appoint At-Large Councilman Greg Geels as Mayor, as well as intending to appoint Wayne Barahona to fill the At-Large position.
(As above) “That is correct and in one case the Council proceeded with an appointment with the position of Mayor. Then there was an election that was triggered. And then at the same time the Council opted to move forward with a Special Election for the council seat, so that was not appointed…the seat that Wayne Barahona occupies now.”
As of Wednesday morning, the City of Sheldon has received just one formal letter of interest in the position from a 2nd Ward resident. Kooiker urges any 2nd Ward resident who might be interested in serving on the Council to submit a letter of interest to the City Office by noon Friday, April 16th. The matter will be taken up at the April 21st meeting of the Sheldon City Council.
