Those wishing to vote in next year’s Oxford Village election will have to wait until September to do so.
Council voted 4-0 last week begin holding village elections in September of odd-numbered years. Officials also voted to change the length of council terms so ultimately each seat would carry with it a four-year term as opposed to the current three years.
Village elections will no longer be held annually in March due to new state election consolidation laws approved last year which require villages to hold their elections in either September of odd-numbered years or November of even-numbered years.
Council chose the September option for a number of reasons, chief among them seemed to be the belief that September’s typically milder weather would yield a high voter-turnout than November.
During the preformal meeting immediately prior to the council meeting, village President Renee Donovan said September offered the most ‘opportune weather? and the ‘probability of the most people available? to vote ‘when you consider a high percentage of your voters are seniors and many do winter out of state.?
Councilman Steve Allen favored September because November would tie the local elections in with the state and national elections, which could lead to problems and confusion.
‘Elections have a tendency to get mucked up when the ballots are large,? Allen said.
Allen also favored September because it would lead to less council members receiving 18-month extensions of their existing terms.
As it stands right now, two council members, Allen and George Del Vigna, will have their current terms automatically extended by 18 months. Each official’s term was supposed to expire in March 2006, but with the changes each member’s term will now expire in September 2007.
Allen noted that under the November even-numbered year scenario, three council members? terms (Council members Matt Weber, Dave Bailey and Donovan) would have been automatically extended by 18 months.
‘One of the reasons I favor September is because it mitigates some of the damage caused by this new (election) law,? said Allen referring to the extensions.
Officials also favored September because it allows the village to retain control of its own elections. If November had been selected, the township clerk would have run the village’s elections.
Because villages can no longer hold annual elections, council was also forced to change the length of its members? terms from three years to either two and/or four years.
During the informal meeting, Donovan indicated her support for four-year terms.
‘I just think two years is too short,? she said. ‘There’s too much to learn, too much to grasp.?
During the regular meeting, Councilman Bailey said he too now favored four-year terms despite his previous leaning toward two-year terms.
Four-year terms ‘lend a certain amount of stability and continuity? to council, Bailey said.
Ultimately, council approved two scenarios (a first choice and a backup) to change the length of council terms, yet still keep the seats staggered.
Council’s first choice was as follows:
n In September 2005, one council seat would be up for election and carry with it a four-year term expiring in September 2009. That seat is currently occupied by Councilman Weber, who’s existing term would be automatically extended by six months (from March to September 2005).
n In September 2007, four council seats would be up for election. Two would carry temporary two-year terms expiring in September 2009 and two would carry four-year terms expiring in September 2011.
n In September 2009, three council sears would be up for election and all three would carry four-year terms expiring in September 2013. Hereafter, all five council seats would carry four-year terms.
This would lead to a 3-2 election scenario whereby three council members are elected in 2009 year, two in 2011, three in 2013 and so forth.
Officials said this scenario would keep the elections staggered. Under the old annual election system council members were elected in a 2-1-2 cycle, so a majority of council was never being elected at one time.
Councilman Allen said the 3-2 staggering allows the village to ‘stay as close to that (2-1-2) as possible? and ‘hold as true . . . as we can? to what the ‘founding fathers of the community? had in mind when they wrote the charter.
Should the above the term-change scenario not be accepted by the state for some reason, council approved a ‘Plan B? scenario as a backup choice.
Under this alternative, all five council seats would be given four-year terms beginning with the September 2005 election. This would result in a 4-1 council election cycle.
‘We’d be limping into the future in that manner with 80 percent of the seats coming up for election 50 percent of the time, which is unfortunate,? said Councilman Bailey of the alternative plan.
Officials noted that State Sen. Mike Bishop (R-Rochester) and newly-elected State Rep. Jim Marleau (R-Lake Orion) are working on amending the new election laws to allow villages to conduct annual elections just like cities.