Filing opens Monday for Idaho candidates

A two-week candidate filing period begins Monday for a variety of city council, school board and other local elected positions in Idaho.

Anyone interested in the open positions can file their declaration of candidacy with the city clerk. The filing period begins at 8 a.m. Monday and ends at 5 p.m. Sept. 3.

Lewiston easily takes the prize for the most complicated filing period this year. That’s because the number and type of positions open for election depends on the outcome to the strong mayor ballot initiative.

The initiative asks voters if they want to retain the current council-city manager form of government — wherein the council hires a city manager to run the day-to-day operations — or shift to a strong mayor-council form of government, in which the mayor serves as the chief administrator.

City Clerk Kari Ravencroft wrote a three-page letter explaining all the possible permutations.

If voters choose to keep the current council-manager form of government, she said, four at-large city council positions will be open for election this year. The current incumbents in those positions are Bob Blakey, Michael Collins, John Pensteiner and Kathy Schroeder.

However, if voters approve the strong mayor-council initiative, it means the mayor’s position and six entirely new city council positions will be up for grabs.

That means all seven of Lewiston’s current councilors will have to file for office, if they want to retain a role in city government.

Overall, Ravencroft said, candidates have a choice of filing in any of five categories:

Lewiston city councilor — this is for one of the four at-large positions under the current council-manager form of government;

Lewiston councilor — for one of the six new positions under the strong mayor-council form of government;

Lewiston councilor — for a seat on the council under either the council-manager or mayor-council form of government;

Mayor — under the new mayor-council form of government;

Mayor under the mayor-council form of government, or councilor under the council-manager form of government — which position the individual would actually fill will depend on the outcome of the strong mayor ballot initiative.

Every incorporated municipality in the region will have at least a couple of city council positions on the ballot this year.

Some mayoral positions are up for election as well, as are a variety of school board, cemetery district, fire district and other local positions.

For some of the larger communities in the region, the open positions and current incumbents include:

Moscow

Mayor — Bill Lambert

Council, three at-large seats — Art Bettge, Brandy Sullivan, Gina Taruscio

Grangeville

Mayor — Wes Lester

Council, three at-large seats — Dylan Canaday, Beryl Grant, Scott Winkler

Orofino

Mayor — Sean Simmons

Council, three at-large seats — Jon Isbelle, Shannon Shrader, Mark Swayne

All of the positions listed above are nonpartisan and have four-year terms.

Spence may be contacted at bspence@lmtribune.com or (208) 791-9168.