Marquette special election set for April 5

MARQUETTE - Voters in Marquette will take to the polls next month to decide for themselves who should replace a recently resigned mayor and council member.

A special election for the two seats - which both expire at the close of 2017 - has been set for April 5. Members of the public called for the special election following the council's appointment last month of Larry Breuer as city's new mayor and Steve Eagle to fill a vacant council seat.

However, Breuer and Eagle are the only candidates to file with the Clayton County Auditor's Office by Friday's deadline. So unless any write-in candidates emerge, the election might not change the council makeup.

Rinda Ferguson, former Marquette council member who helped circulate the petition calling for a special election, said there are a few potential write-in candidates, but none have officially announced.

'I have heard there's a couple of people who are thinking about it,” she said Monday.

Last month's appointments of Breuer and Eagle filled vacancies created earlier this year when Ferguson and former Mayor Dave Schneider resigned following disagreement on the five-member council over a zoning violation.

However, Ferguson and Tracy Melver, former chair of the city's Board of Adjustment who also resigned in January, began collecting signatures within hours of last month's appointments. The petition collected close to double the 20 signatures needed - 15 percent of the number of voters in the last election - to force a special election, according to Jennifer Garms, deputy auditor with Clayton County.

The special election, petition, appointments and resignations all stem back to council's decision to follow a court order to not pursue enforcement of a city zoning violation.

The council in January voted not to enforce a zoning violation in which an occupied mobile home was located in a new subdivision where zoning doesn't allow mobile home use.

Some council members say the move went against the city attorney's recommendation and the city should have enforced city code, while others argue the mobile home was going to be leaving the area soon and the appropriate decision was to not appeal the court ruling.

In addition to the council turmoil, Marquette City Manager Dean Hilgerson will effectively resign April 9 and City Attorney James Garrett's resignation takes effect April 1. Both resignations were announced before the zoning vote and subsequent council resignations.

A city of less than 500 people, Marquette is located in Northeast Iowa along the Mississippi River.