Council hopes to avoid special election for mayor

A new mayor is going to be appointed by Creston City Council, and all of Creston is invited to apply.

In a special city council meeting Tuesday, the council decided to go with appointment to fill the mayor position for the rest of former-Mayor Waylon Clayton’s term, which ends Dec. 31, 2027.

While originally leaning toward an appointment directly from the council, they agreed to open the role up to community members as well. This is partly due to an effort to avoid a special election.

“A special election will cost between $10,000 and $11,000,” Mayor Pro-Tem Richard Madison said. “Typically we don’t pay that much, but that’s because we’re sharing the cost with the college and the school and the county. This would just be us.”

According to the Union County Auditor’s Office, this cost is due to the need to rent polling equipment, put together ballots, pay poll workers, canvassing, absentee voting postage and more.

In order to be considered for the mayor appointment, a Creston resident must be a an eligible elector, meaning they are a U.S. citizen, be at least 18 years old and not have their right to vote be revoked. A letter of intent must be sent to the city clerk before noon on Thursday, Oct. 9.

No council members expressed interest in the mayoral appointment during Tuesday’s meeting.

Once letters are in, an interview committee appointed by Madison will talk to each candidate and make a recommendation to the council. The council will vote on the appointment during their Tuesday, Oct. 21 meeting.

While the council will be appointing the next mayor, citizens are able to petition for a special election. In order to force a special election, an eligible elector must fill out a petition, which includes 182 signatures from other eligible electors, and file it with the city clerk within 14 days after publication of the notice of intent to appoint or within 14 days after the appointment is made. The latest a petition could be filed with the planned appointment date is Nov. 4.

If a special election is forced, the earliest the election can be held is Dec. 16 due to restrictions surrounding how close a special election can be held to a regular election.