Aberdeen council votes to publish notice to amend handbook after state voting statute changes

The City of Aberdeen Council on Aug. 18 authorized publication of a notice of intent to amend the council handbook so it conforms to a 2025 change in state law governing council voting and vacancy-filling procedures.

The change follows a 2025 statutory amendment to section 9-8-10 that, as described to the council by city staff, requires that certain ordinance amendments receive the affirmative votes of a majority of all council members (not simply a majority of members present) and forbids secret ballots when the council fills vacancies.

City Attorney Ron Weger told the council he reviewed the statutory changes and proposed matching edits to several handbook articles, including Article 9 (voting), Article 16, Article 17 (filling council vacancies) and Article 19. Weger said he had drafted two options for the vacancy process: a spoken (oral) ballot and a written ballot that would be publicly read and recorded; the proposed handbook language uses a spoken ballot but staff will present both versions at the Sept. 2 meeting.

Weger said the handbook changes are procedural and required a published notice of intent so council members would have the opportunity to attend and consider the revisions. He recommended publishing notice for final consideration at the Sept. 2 meeting.

Council members discussed the two ballot options for filling vacancies. A spoken ballot would have council members announce their vote aloud, moving around the room; the written option would require reading each member’s written vote aloud and recording it publicly. Weger said the objective was to remove secret ballots from the vacancy process, per the statutory change. He also described an elimination process for multiple nominees whereby the lowest vote-getters would be eliminated until a majority selected a candidate.

Councilman Ward asked the city attorney to prepare both versions of the procedural language for the Sept. 2 meeting so members could choose. Councilwoman Liebelt and other members expressed no objection to publishing the notice; the motion to publish the notice and bring final language back Sept. 2 passed by voice vote.

What happens next: staff will publish the notice of intent to amend the handbook and return proposed red-line language — including an alternate written-ballot draft for the vacancy process — for council consideration on Sept. 2.