CCR-1 District Opts Out of April Election
CCR-1 District Opts Out of April Election
By Mike Scott
The Clark County R-1 School District Board of Education candidates won’t be on the ballot for the Tuesday, April 8 Municipal Elections. Neither will candidates for the Clark County Rural Water District, or the Clark County Nursing Home Boards.
They’re all taking advantage of a state statute, RSMo 115.124, which allows certain governmental bodies to skip the election if the number of candidates who have filed for a particular office is equal to the number of positions in that office to be filled by the election.
“It’s never happened to us before,” said CCR-1 Board Secretary Martha Ewart.
CCR-1 has four board openings: three three-year terms and a one-year term. Current member Brad Sprague, Kevin Ross and Keri Bevans have filed for the three year terms. Jason Acklie has filed for the remaining year of Bevan’s term, to which she was appointed following the departure of Miles Cameron. Longtime board member Kristy Webber is not seeking re-election.
By skipping the election, the school district will also save over $3000. The district spent $3,130.74 on the last election.
“Cities and counties do not get to do that,” said Clark County Clerk Leih Ann Hayden.
“It’s a good law, and a bad law,” she said. “It’s a good law because it allows some governmental bodies to save the money from an election. But it’s a bad law because the election is going to cost about the same one way or another, so the costs get spread over the remaining bodies on the ballot.”
The City of Kahoka also has only the number of candidates to fill the offices, but they will have to be on the ballot. Mayor Wayne Blum, East Ward Alderman Jeff Wood, and West Ward Alderman Jerry Webber were the only candidates to file for election.
