Local Election Outcome Leaves City Council Seat Open

SIDNEY--It's been said that "Elections have consequences", and one victory in the 2024 election is causing controversy as it results in an open City Council seat in Sidney. Vice-Mayor Paul Strommen ran for and won the District 47 State Senate seat on Election Day, and will have to resign his position on the Sidney City Council to take on his role of representing Nebraska's 47th district. However, with that resignation, a City Council seat will become open, and there has been some controversy about how that seat gets filled.

Vice-Mayor Strommen is expected to resign his City Council seat, having won the 2024 election for State Senate in the 47th District. There are about two years left in his term, so any new council member would have two years to serve, and then run for re-election if they choose. Strommen has not yet announced his resignation, however, it is expected that he could make this announcement at the City of Sidney Council Meeting on Tuesday, November 12, 2024. It is not certain this will happen as the official declaration of election winners does not happen until November 25, and he may wait for the official results and declarations of winners before resigning his seat.

Mayor Brad Sherman spoke with the Sun-Telegraph regarding this issue and said although there has been much talk about filling the open seat, there are only two ways by Nebraska Statute that this can be done. According to Nebraska State Statute 32-569, the first way is to "publish a Notice of a Vacancy (except a vacancy resulting from the death of the incumbent), which shall be in writing and presented to the council or board of trustees at a regular or special meeting and shall appear as a part of the minutes of such meeting. The council or board of trustees shall at once give public notice of the vacancy by causing to be published in a newspaper of general circulation within the city or village or by posting in three public places in the city or village the office vacated and the length of the unexpired term."

"The mayor or chairperson of the board shall call a special meeting of the council or board of trustees or place the issue of filling such vacancy on the agenda at the next regular meeting at which time the mayor or chairperson shall submit the name of a qualified registered voter to fill the vacancy for the balance of the unexpired term. The council or board of trustees shall vote upon such nominee, and if a majority votes in favor of such nominee, the vacancy shall be declared filled. If the nominee fails to receive a majority of the votes, the nomination shall be rejected and the mayor or chairperson shall at the next regular or special meeting submit the name of another qualified registered voter to fill the vacancy. If the subsequent nominee fails to receive a majority of the votes, the mayor or chairperson shall continue at such meeting to submit the names of qualified registered voters in nomination and the council or board of trustees shall continue to vote upon such nominations at such meeting until the vacancy is filled. The mayor shall cast his or her vote for or against the nominee in the case of a tie vote of the council. All council members and trustees present shall cast a ballot for or against the nominee."

There are differences in procedure if the vacancy is caused by the death of an incumbent, but this is not the case here. The second way the vacancy can be filled is by Special Election.

As per Nebraska State Statute 32-569, "The mayor and council or chairperson and board of trustees may, in lieu of filling a vacancy in a city or village elected office as provided in subsection (1) of this section or subsection (3) of section 32-568, call a special city election to fill such vacancy."

These two options are available to the Mayor to use to fill the seat, and is the Mayor's decision alone. The only time that a Special Election is mandatory is in the case of half or more of the City Council or Board of Trustees seats being empty. At that point, "If vacancies exist in the offices of one-half or more of the members of a city council or village board, the Secretary of State shall conduct a special city election to fill such vacancies. Candidates for such special election shall file a candidate filing form pursuant to section 32-606.01."

Mayor Sherman said that the empty seat will be filled via an application process, as has been done the last two times there was a seat open, the resignations of Joe Arterburn in 2022 and Roger Galloway in 2023. Arterburn's seat was filled by Marva Ellwanger, and Galloway's seat was filled by Brock Buckner, Sr., who ran for re-election in 2024 but did not receive enough votes to retain his seat.

Sherman's plan follows Nebraska statute, which is to have a period of time, not more than 28 days, to accept applications for the City Council seat. Applications can be picked up at the Sidney City Offices from City Clerk Lori Borchert. Sherman also said that he plans to have an applicants' forum prior to the council voting on a replacement, to give the applicants a chance to explain why they would be the best choice for city council, and what their plans are.

There had been talk around Sidney and on Social Media that the results of last week's election should be used, and the candidate with the next highest vote total, Brian Fort, should be appointed to the empty seat. However, Statute 32-568 does not have a provision for elevating a candidate to a council seat from the results of a prior election.

The Sun-Telegraph spoke with Lash Chaffin of the League of Nebraska Municipalities about the statute to fill a vacant city council seat. He confirmed that there were two choices, the application process or a special election, and the decision was solely up to the mayor with the consent of the city council.

Sherman said, "I am committed to following the procedures of the past and putting the best candidate forward for the future of Sidney."

Sherman was clear that he believed the application procedure would work best in this circumstance, and that a Special Election would cost additional taxpayer money and delay the process. Sherman estimated the cost of a special election to be between eight and ten thousand dollars. Sherman also said if any Sidney resident had questions about the procedure, or would like to share their input, he could be reached at (308) 249-2321.

The Sun-Telegraph also spoke with Brian Fort, who came in third place in the city council election with 1049 votes. He favors the mayor's call for a special election to fill Strommen's seat. Fort said he currently does not want to go through the application process to be appointed to fill Strommen's seat, as he believes the city council would not fairly consider his application. He is supported by many in the community who have been critical of the mayor, the city council, and the city manager.

"I'm not going to support an application process where five people make a decision when 1049 people in Sidney already made a decision," Fort said referring to the recent election results.

Fort agrees that the mayor can decide on an application process or a special election. He believes the mayor should decide on a special election process. He said it did not seem right for the mayor and the council to appoint someone else when he had the third-highest vote total in the election.

Fort said, "The Mayor's basically going to pick who he's going to run for re-election against in two years, and recent history has shown that the people that have been appointed did not win re-election."

This issue is still not completely resolved, and more details and firmer timelines should be able to be reported after the City Council meeting on Tuesday, November 12, 2024. We will have updates to this story as they become available.

Nebraska Revised Statute 32-569

Chapter 32

32-569.

Vacancies in city and village elected offices; procedure for filling.

(1)(a) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (2) or (3) of this section or section 32-568, vacancies in city and village elected offices shall be filled by the mayor and council or board of trustees for the balance of the unexpired term. Notice of a vacancy, except a vacancy resulting from the death of the incumbent, shall be in writing and presented to the council or board of trustees at a regular or special meeting and shall appear as a part of the minutes of such meeting. The council or board of trustees shall at once give public notice of the vacancy by causing to be published in a newspaper of general circulation within the city or village or by posting in three public places in the city or village the office vacated and the length of the unexpired term.

(b) The mayor or chairperson of the board shall call a special meeting of the council or board of trustees or place the issue of filling such vacancy on the agenda at the next regular meeting at which time the mayor or chairperson shall submit the name of a qualified registered voter to fill the vacancy for the balance of the unexpired term. The regular or special meeting shall occur upon the death of the incumbent or within four weeks after the meeting at which such notice of vacancy has been presented. The council or board of trustees shall vote upon such nominee, and if a majority votes in favor of such nominee, the vacancy shall be declared filled. If the nominee fails to receive a majority of the votes, the nomination shall be rejected and the mayor or chairperson shall at the next regular or special meeting submit the name of another qualified registered voter to fill the vacancy.

If the subsequent nominee fails to receive a majority of the votes, the mayor or chairperson shall continue at such meeting to submit the names of qualified registered voters in nomination and the council or board of trustees shall continue to vote upon such nominations at such meeting until the vacancy is filled. The mayor shall cast his or her vote for or against the nominee in the case of a tie vote of the council. All council members and trustees present shall cast a ballot for or against the nominee.

Any member of the city council or board of trustees who has been appointed to fill a vacancy on the council or board shall have the same rights, including voting, as if such person were elected.