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Council discusses setting automatic-primary thresholds, cites cost and turnout concerns
Summary
Councilors discussed an ordinance to set when local primaries occur—examining thresholds (four or more mayoral candidates; double-plus-one for council seats), the city’s financial responsibility for February primaries, and adding vacancy-filling language; staff will draft ordinance language and return to the council.
Council members spent a portion of the meeting reviewing options for a local ordinance that would set automatic spring-primary thresholds and clarify procedures for filling council vacancies when a member becomes mayor.
Staff explained the mechanics: currently, if the city needs a spring primary the council can convene a meeting within three days to decide whether to hold one; alternatively, an ordinance could set a threshold that triggers an automatic primary irrespective of a special meeting. "So you could set the threshold for mayor at 3, 4, or more," the staff member said, noting Broadhead’s rule uses four candidates as the threshold.
Councilors raised financial concerns about February primaries: with no other state or county races, the city would bear the full election cost. A staff member warned, "the big kicker with the February, if nothing else is going on, is that the financial responsibility for every aspect falls to the city." Members also cited low turnout in February-April contests and suggested a higher threshold for mayoral primaries (four or more) and a double-plus-one rule for council seats as a reasonable default.
Members discussed a potential clause allowing the council to decline a primary if a statewide primary made a local primary redundant or cost-prohibitive; there was also discussion about the appearance of conflict if members vote on a primary while one of them is a candidate. The council did not adopt an ordinance at the meeting; instead, members directed staff and the city attorney to draft language reflecting the preferred thresholds and to include rules for filling vacancies and transition options for any changes.
