13-WHOtv.com Des Moines, Polk County, Iowa Monday, October 26, 2015
No Elections in Delphos as Community Weighs Ending as a Town By Roger Riley
DELPHOS, Iowa -- The Town Council of Delphos will meet Monday evening to discuss ending as an Iowa town. The main reason is that in the coming election, no one signed up to run as a candidate for the city council.
One man, Bernie Rothman, filed papers to run for Mayor of Delphos. Rothman said the City had already voted to not hold elections, due to plans to unincorporate the town.
"The elections been called off, the vote’s been taken this past month," said Rothman. "So there won’t be any elections, not enough people signed up to run."
A meeting was be held on Oct. 26 at the Ringgold County Courthouse to discuss unincorporating.
The community is also in need of street repairs, as one estimate puts that at $500,000 to fix. However, the town does not have the funds.
"We filled a lot of the potholes, a lot of the time and material was donated," said Brian Johnson, a resident of Delphos. "Getting everybody together and getting everything rounded up is the main issue.”
Mount Ayr Record-News Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa Thursday, October 29, 2015
City of Delphos to live on
A public hearing was held Monday, October 26 to consider the discontinueance of Delphos as an incorported city, but during the hearing city officials decided
to not to pursue unincoporation at this time.County auditor Amanda Waske reports that the election in Delphos will take place as planned Tuesday, November 3.
Bernard Rothman is the lone candidate for mayor, and write-in votes will fill the five vacant council seats as no one filed papers for those positions.
Waske said Delphos will continue to operate as a five-member council, but following the election officials will move forward to take the necessary steps to reduce
the size of the council to three seats. She explained the reduction of seats is a lengthy process and the change can't take effect officially until the
next city election in 2017. In the meantime, the council will be comprised of the write-in winners from Tuesday's election. If not enough seats are filled
from election results, the council may choose to appoint members to fill the remaining seats, or it may operate as a five-member council with two vacant seats.
That means all three council members must be present at each meeting to constitute a quorum to conduct city business.
Photograph courtesy of 13-WHOtv
Transcriptions by Sharon R. Becker, October of 2015
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