Iowa City Council debates how to fill pending vacancy

IOWA CITY --- The Iowa City Council has started the process of deciding how to fill a vacancy after member Andrew Dunn last week announced his resignation effective in January — leaving three years to go on the term.

The council can choose to fill the opening either by calling a special election or by making an appointment. The council is limited in the action it can take until Dunn’s resignation — which he said is due to increasing work travel — goes into effect Jan. 1.

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However, in preliminary conversations Monday, the majority of the council expressed they are leaning toward holding a special election. The council did not vote on the matter in its work session.

If the council chooses to appoint someone to the open seat for District C, which includes downtown Iowa City and north-central Iowa City, the appointee would serve until November 2025, the next regularly scheduled city election. Two other terms on the seven-member City Council also are up at that time.

At that time, the candidate winning the District C seat would take office in November 2025, immediately replacing the appointee. The other two would be sworn in on January 2026, the regularly scheduled time.

The other option is that the council could hold a special election, which would include a primary and a general election. City Attorney Eric Goers said that a general election could be held as early as March, allowing time for the Johnson County Auditor’s Office to plan for it.

If the council chooses to fill the vacancy by appointment, city residents could still petition for a special election. A petition would need to be filed within 14 days of an appointment being made.

Additionally, if the council takes no action within 60 days of the vacancy being created, a special election must be held.

Low voter turnout, cost dominate discussion

In 2023, the council chose to fill a vacancy by appointment rather than a special election — citing time constraints, cost concerns and historically low turnout.

The City Council accepted applications for the open position then gave each finalist a 10-minute presentation before appointing a new council member. That appointment process led to the council picking Dunn.

He was appointed after former council member Janice Weiner was elected to the Iowa Senate, representing District 45. Dunn served in the at-large seat for the remainder of Weiner’s term, which was a little less than a year, before he was elected to the district seat last fall.

This time around, the remainder of the open seat is for three years. However, the same concerns about the cost of an election and low voter turnout have arisen.

“I am more leaning towards just an appointment, because I really don't believe that the numbers will really represent the voices of the people,” Mayor Bruce Teague said Monday about historically low voter turnout in city special elections.

Council member Megan Alter said that even if there is low voter turnout, it likely would be more than six people — the number of council members who would be appointing a seventh member.

Goers said a special election likely would cost over $100,000 for both the primary and general election. Those funds would come from the city’s general fund.

“We can't ignore things like cost, but I think that's the price of democracy and letting people have a voice,” said council member Shawn Harmsen.

Council member Josh Moe applied for the open council seat in 2023 when Dunn was appointed instead. He later won a seat through a general city election later that year.

“When you ask for the job from council, the message is quite a bit different than when you're asking the job for the voters. And I think there's a good value in asking voters,” Moe said.

Comments: megan.woolard@thegazette.com