Fiscal Note
No fiscal impact.
Title
SUBSTITUTE Creating Section 2.03(7) of the Madison General Ordinances to provide an alternate method of filling aldermanic vacancies on a short-term basis.
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DRAFTER'S ANALYSIS: The City has a procedure for filling aldermanic vacancies, set out in Sec. 2.03, MGO. An unusual event occurred this year, when an alder resigned after the time for filing of nomination papers had closed, but before the election. This usually means a resignation after January 1 and before April. There may not be enough time to use the method mandated by Sec. 2.03, resulting in the position remaining vacant for several months, and the district without an alder.
This ordinance proposes that, in such a circumstance, the Council President may seek a person who previously served on the Common Council or on the County Board and resides in the district, and seek appointment of that person to serve the short time until the election in April.
The substitute removed the words “may” and replaced them with “shall” so that the procedure outlined in subsection 7 is mandatory when there is not enough time to utilize Section 2.03 to fill the vacancy.
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The Common Council of the City of Madison do hereby ordain as follows:
Subsection (7) entitled “Alternative Procedure” of Section 2.03 entitled “Procedure to Fill Vacancies on the Common Council” of the Madison General Ordinances is hereby created to read as follows:
“(7) Alternative Procedure. If (a) there is a vacancy on the Common Council, and (b) the time for filing nomination papers for a spring election has passed, and (c) the spring election has not been held, the vacancy shall be filled by the procedure in this subsection. The Council President shall seek applications from one-two (1-2) persons who have been members of the Council or the County Board, are resident(s) of the district at issue, and have not filed papers to run for the seat. The Common Council Executive Committee will review the application(s), and will make a recommendation to the Council to fill the unexpired term until the spring election. The Council may fill the seat with the recommended person, or decline to fill the seat.”