Open seat on the Iowa City school board to be filled by special election

IOWA CITY — In a 15-minute meeting Tuesday, members of the Iowa City school board voted to fill a vacant seat through a special election on July 19.

Tom Yates, who was elected in September, created the vacancy on the board when he resigned on May 13.

The quick decision came after clarification from the Iowa Department of State that an appointed member would need to stand for election during the November presidential election, not during the next school board election in September 2017, as the board had previously thought.

Board President Chris Lynch said a series of recent state law changes confused the issue. The state's clarification came just before noon on Tuesday, he said.

'This morning I woke up fully intending to come to this meeting and explain my personal belief that we should be appointing,' Board Vice President Brian Kirschling said. 'But as of 11:30 this morning, that turned around 180 degrees.'

A state law that takes effect July 1 would allow for an appointed member to hold the position until the next school board election, Lynch said.

But the board has only 30 days from Yates' resignation date to take action. That window expires June 12.

If the board had appointed a member, the new member would have had to be on the ballot during the Nov. 8 election. Not only would the logistics of that be 'incredibly complex,' Lynch said, that election would also cost the school district about $75,000 — significantly more than the estimated cost of a summer special election.

The July special election, Lynch said, is to cost between $15,000 and $17,000.

Those costs are to be covered through the district's general fund, the same pool of money the district uses to pay for most curriculum costs.

Board members thanked the seven people who submitted applications to be considered for appointment before unanimously voting to take no action on the appointment. The board has no plans to meet before the June 12 appointment deadline passes.

Applicants Paul Roesler and Marla Swesey both asked during public comment to withdraw their applications, citing the clarification regarding the costs associated with an appointment.

'I pretty much put my application in because I wanted to save the district money,' said Swesey, who served on the board from 2011 to 2015. 'I know that if you're spending that kind of money on the November election, it would come out of the general fund, which would be terrible — it needs to be in there for the kids and the schools.'