Sulzner highlights changes in school/city elections

     County Auditor and Commissioner of Elections Janine Sulzner took time during the Dec. 18 Board of Supervisor meeting, to share some election information with the board.

     Beginning in 2019, school board and city elections will be combined and held in November. Prior to this statewide change, school elections were held in September.

     House File 566 was voted on in the last legislative session to combine both elections due to the low voter turnout in school board elections. Now, school and city elections will take place on the first Tuesday in November during odd-numbered years.

     Sulzner explained in school elections, some school districts cross county lines; not all school districts are restricted to a single county. For example, Western Dubuque, which encompasses numerous counties in Eastern Iowa.

     With this change in legislation, Sulzner said voters would no longer cross county lines to vote.

     “This changes how we conduct elections and where polling places are,” she said.

     For instance, in Monticello, voters were getting confused as to where they reported to vote with school elections conducted at one single polling place and general elections conducted in numerous polling sites.

     “I have plans to reduce the cost and evaluate the confusion,” she told the board. “My goal is that every November, people will vote at the same place.”

     Sulzner is meeting with Jones County precinct officials first before divulging her plans. She also wants to involve county auditors from across the state and propose these plans to the state legislature once the new session begins to get ahead of the law change before November 2019.

     “We have the capabilities to make this happen,” she said. “We need to start the conversation with the schools and cities. There is a lot of support to do something among county auditors to do something.”

     Sulzner said every county has different methods for billing during an election, namely when school board elections cross county lines. She suggested the county picking up the election tab and asking schools and cities for reimbursement.

     “No matter what we do, some schools and some cities will pay more or less,” said Sulzner. “There needs to be something uniform statewide so schools and cities know what to budget for.”

     Sulzner said she set up a conference call to start putting a proposal together for the state legislature. The board of supervisors offered their backing and support as well.

     “I think overall in Jones County, we can increase voter turnout and decrease the costs,” said Sulzner. “And when voters vote, they’ll always go to the same place to vote.”

In other county business:

     • The board approved filing tax liens for delinquent sewer bills for the Fairview sanitary sewer system. The total amount of delinquent bills amounts to $5,514.84

     • Rose Rohr, with Jones County Historic Preservation, provided an update on the Stone Bridge project. She said the project engineer, Steve Jacobsen with NNW Engineering, is working on getting her a cost estimate for the scope of the project by the first of the year. Rohr said once she has the plans in place, the Commission can start the process of finding some funding.

     “We need to know what we’re getting into,” she said of the project parameters.

     She said Jacobsen confirmed that he can plan for a 24-foot-wide bridge, something the board of supervisors requested.

     “He’s a structural engineer and knows the history of bridges,” Rohr shared of Jacobsen’s professional background. “He has the expertise and vision to be able to do this.”

     The board plans to meet with Jacobsen via Skype in late January.

     “People are talking about the bridge and asking about it constantly,” voiced Supervisor Wayne Manternach. “I’d like to get the ball rolling on this.”

     Rohr said once the scope of the project has been decided on, Jacobsen informed her that he could design the new bridge in about two months’ time.

     County Engineer Derek Snead inquired as to what those plans will look like. “Plans to rebuild a bridge? Rehab the existing bridge?” asked Snead.

     Rohr said Jacobsen is starting his design from scratch versus taking information from work the University of Colorado performed a few years ago.

     • The board approved the Jones County Historic Preservation Commission annual report. Rohr shared that the biggest project the Commission took on this year was the countywide recognizance survey, which saw $20,000 worth of volunteer time.

     “It goes to show you how massive this (project) was,” said Rohr.

     She said the next step for the Commission is to decide how best to use the survey results. “We need to decide how to make this beneficial. Do we want to get sites on the National Register? We don’t know what we want to do yet,” she said.