LEWISTON- Voters will have a chance to allow Mayoral and City Council vacancies to be filled by special election instead of by appointment.
On Tuesday night, the Lewiston City Council unanimously approved an order allowing residents to vote on proposed changes to the City Charter. The vote will take place during the November elections later this year.
The issue of special elections played front-and-center last month when a City Councilor resigned. Due to the language in the City Charter, a special election was not allowed even though nearly two years remained in the term. The seat was filled by appointment by the City Council.
Historically, the Charter has allowed for special elections when a Mayoral or Council vacancy occurs with more than one year left in the term. The Council Tuesday chose language that lowers the threshold to just six months, instead of one year.
Unless changes are made, there are currently no scenarios where special elections can happen in the case of a Mayoral or Council vacancy.
In 2021, a Charter Review Committee sent a list of changes to the City Council to consider for approval, to then go to voters for final approval. One of the changes was putting elected officials on staggered terms (half of them are elected every year, instead of all elected every two years).
Voters approved all of the proposed changes.
The option chosen by the Council allowed for special elections if a Councilor or Mayor resigned their seat with more than a year remaining in their term. However, an administrative error resulted in incorrect language that was ultimately approved to go to voters.
That mistake was not caught until after the language was given the final approval, and this is the first proposal to correct it.
Changes to the City Charter that aren’t substantial can be done by amendment. That requires the City Council to approve language for residents to vote on, and voters have the final say. This is the process that happened in 2021. Councils may send proposed amendments to voters at any time.
Changes that are substantial require work to be done by a Charter Commission, whose members are elected by voters. For a Charter Commission to be created, the City Council must approve allowing residents to vote on it, and then voters must give it a thumbs up.
Charter Commissions also approve language for residents to ultimately vote on, but they can propose either a series of revisions or an entirely new City Charter.
The Council appeared split over support for a full Charter Commission. The group did all seem amenable to at least reviewing the Charter. They will hold a workshop in the future to decide how they want to proceed.