Highland school district’s bond election challenge will go to trial

AINSWORTH — Washington County officials say a challenge to the outcome of a $15 million bond vote for the Highland Community School District will move forward in the next few weeks, coming to a trial before a “challenge court” of stakeholders.

The exact makeup of that court is currently undecided. In an email forwarded to local news outlets Thursday, County Attorney Nathan Repp said Ainsworth City Council member and school district resident Ron Greiner was selected to represent petitioners challenging the election’s outcome, while Highland school board Vice President Dan Ruth will represent “the interests adverse to those of the petitioners.”

The two are expected to meet and select a third representative for the challenge court, according to Repp, but if they can’t come to an agreement state law allows the judicial district’s chief judge to appoint a third person instead. Once selected, those three will hold a trial to determine whether the bond passage should be overturned.

“The contest court shall have all the powers of the district court necessary for determination of the matter, which includes, but is not limited to, compelling the attendance of witnesses, swearing them in, and directing their examination,” Repp said in the email.

Greiner filed a challenge to the election result after county officials said an unknown number of voters at a precinct in Ainsworth were given the wrong ballots on Election Day, meaning they either didn’t have a chance to vote on a matter that would shape their property taxes, or they voted in an election they had no standing in.

Election officials said they had no way to determine how many improper ballots were handed out, and therefore said they had no way to know whether the issue affected the race’s result.

The bond passed by just 22 votes.

“I just want a fair deal. If it passes, it passes,” Greiner said in an interview shortly after submitting the challenge petition. “They thought they could squeeze it by without anybody noticing, and I’m trying to be nice about it, but it needs a new election, because it wasn’t done properly.”

State code requires the trial to happen within 30 days of its announcement on Dec. 12, according to Repp, but his email didn’t specify a time, date or location. County Auditor Dan Widmer said he didn’t expect the trail to happen before Dec. 31, but said his office would keep local news outlets in the loop.

Some advocates had called on Washington County supervisors to overturn the election result during canvassing, but Repp said the board didn’t have that kind of authority.

“The only connection the county itself has to this case is the commissioner of this election happens to be the county auditor,” Repp said. “It would be a different circumstance if the county were the taxing authority on this particular bond measure, but it’s not. Nothing about this bond measure has any direct connection to the county, it’s to the school district and those within the district.”

The board ultimately voted 4-1 to certify the election’s outcome, with Supervisor Marcus Fedler dissenting. Fedler was also among the 29 signatures to Greiner’s petition.

Administrators at Highland have planned to use the $15 million bond for improvements like a new multipurpose facility, secure entrances at the elementary building, new classrooms, and upgrades to the commons area at the high school. If approved, the loan would be paid off over 20 years with no changes to the district’s current $2.70 debt service levy set by the last bond vote in 2019.

If the challenge court reverses the bond’s approval, the district is expected to take it back to voters, though any potential election dates have yet to be announced. While educators wait to see how the current challenge plays out, some worry the issue would fare worse without a long-anticipated, turnout-boosting presidential race at the top of the ticket.

“Now we are tasked with the challenge of getting all of the ‘yes’ people in our community to come back out again,” Crawford wrote in an email to all district staff the morning after the Nov. 5 election, referencing the possibility of a reversed outcome due to the polling place errors. “I do not see this as an easy situation for us … I know we can do it, but it will take focus.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com