City transfers school election duties to district; board staff arrange training and trustees debate capacity

The board heard that the city clerk's office will no longer administer candidate filings and canvassing for school board elections and that the district will assume those election administration duties beginning with the upcoming spring election. Melissa (staff) explained the city had reviewed its processes and determined the duties that had been performed for the district should be conducted by the district itself. She told trustees the city clerk, Celestine Jeffreys, had offered to train district staff and that Kinsey, Jeanette (the board clerk) and district counsel Abby had participated in prior trainings. "The state statute definitely outlines how elections are conducted, filing timelines, clerk duties, canvas duties," Melissa said, adding that neighboring districts had varied practices and that the district had been an outlier among urban districts in relying on the city. Trustees raised concerns about workload, institutional knowledge and legal risk. Trustee Alex said the signature‑validation and residency checks the city clerk performed are a substantial task and worried about mistakes during the first year the district assumed duties. Melissa and other staff said they plan training with the city clerk and local peers and noted a delayed legislative change will shift some campaign finance filings to the state after the next election. No vote was taken on policy changes at this meeting. Staff said they will add the related policy language (policy 1.31 and policy 1.41) to a future agenda for formal action and will schedule training for Jeanette and staff.