Council to discuss primary elections for third time
OTTUMWA — The Ottumwa City Council wants a third bite at the apple.
The council, during Tuesday's meeting at Bridge View Center, is expected to review whether to change the election system and eliminate primary elections as part of the process.
The issue has been brought up twice previously — once by Mary Stewart in 2021, when, representing the Ottumwa League of Women Voters, she said the topic needed to be "researched and studied." Last year, the council on a split vote nixed an ordinance that would have eliminated the primary process. That ordinance is still live, and the first reading could take place at the meeting.
During a budget work session last week, council member Bill Hoffman Jr. suggested the elections process be discussed once again, since one of the council members who voted against eliminating it — Cyan Bossou — is no longer on the council. However, both Hoffman and Cara Galloway also voted it down last year.
State law allows municipalities to choose how to conduct their elections, which is covered under chapters 44 and 45 of the Iowa Code. Both options eliminate the need for a primary, and the top vote-getters based on the number of seats needed filled will be elected to office. Ottumwa would seek the nomination-by-petition format of Chapter 45.
The city will have three council seats and a mayor set up for election this year, and mayor Rick Johnson has indicated he will not seek re-election. If the ordinance crafted last year eventually gets approved, the top three running for council seats will win those seats, and the mayoral candidate with the most votes would take that seat.
The city has cited the cost and the lack of turnout as reasons to eliminate the primary, but others in the community have indicated eliminating it also takes away a chance for voters' voices to be heard. The primary for a council seat last August, followed by the special election to fill a vacancy, cost the city $11,600 for just 1,800 combined in voter turnout.
Low turnout isn't just something that happened last year. It's been a problem in primaries going back to at least 2015, when just over 1,000 voters cast ballots in a city primary. The outlier may have been 2021, when nine residents ran for city council and three for mayor, and over 3,000 turned out for that primary.
In other business:
— A public hearing will be held for real estate behind the former North Hy-Vee building, in which developers hope to turn the land behind the building into a car wash. Blunt Investments has offered $5,000 for a pair of parcels along North Court Street.
— The council will set a public hearing for Feb. 18 on a resolution to raise sewer rates as payment on a loan for Division III of the sewer-separation project.
The meeting begins at 5:30 p.m., and a board of health meeting to condemn property at 220 W. Fifth St. will precede the regular meeting.
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