WILLIAMS - Three Williams City Council seats along with the mayor's two year term will be decided during the city's primary election to be held March 9.
As of Nov. 30, nine candidates packets have been picked up from City Hall. The packets are available at the city's Web site as well as at City Hall through Dec. 9.
Incumbent Mayor John Moore and William Andrew Brock both picked up packets as of Nov. 19 for the mayoral race. Bernie Hiemenz, Mike DuCharme, Lee A. Payne, Jay Redfeather, Gerald (Buck) D. Williams, Sr., and incumbent city councilmen Donald Dent and Kevin T. Young all picked up candidate's packets as well.
Williams City Clerk Susan Kerly said interest in the election looks strong.
"It appears to me that the field may be a bit larger than sometimes in the past," she said.
According to the city of Williams' Web site, nomination papers, affidavits of Qualification, Campaign Finance Laws Statements, Nomination Petitions and Financial Disclosure forms, all included in the candidate packet, are due by Dec. 9. Either a Political Committee Statement of Organization or a $500 Threshold Exemption Statement must be filed before circulating nomination petitions, receiving or expending money or distributing campaign literature.
Williams City Planner Harry Holmes said candidates are required to provide a minimum of 36 signatures on their nomination petition, a number equal to 5 percent of the total number of votes cast in the last election. Candidates can provide up to 10 percent of the total votes or 71 signatures.
Current terms for Mayor John Moore, Vice Mayor Don Dent, Councilman Kevin Young and Councilman Andrew Hamby expire June 30.
Holmes said that along with the city positions up for re-election, voters will have the opportunity to renew or discontinue the city of Williams' Home Rule Option. The Home Rule Option is an alternative expenditure limitation allowing municipalities to set their own spending limits.
Voters have approved Home Rule in Williams since 1990, renewing the option every four years. Holmes explained that without the Home Rule Option in place, many city services would have to be discontinued.
"Simply put, Home Rule is a vote to determine whether the city is bound by state rule or whether the city can set it's own home rule as regarding expenditure levels," he said. "The state formula sets the expenditure limitation at a very low number based on, I believe its 1979 and 1980 expenditure levels or budget. And the city, because of all the facilities it has, the very expensive treatment plant and all of these services it provides, it cannot possibly do so if constrained to that number. So Home Rule just allows the city to exceed that number. Of course it has to have a balanced budget. That's by state law. So that is set every year by the city council. The budget may not exceed the city's revenues. They can't do deficit spending like the federal government."
Holmes went on to say that Home Rule is decided entirely by the city of Williams' registered voters.
"If they don't choose that option, heaven forbid, there will be a lot of services that just won't be provided because the city just doesn't have the ability to do it with the state limitation," he said.
The city of Williams operates under the Council-Manager form of government. Elections are held in the spring of even-numbered years. The mayor serves a two-year term and council members are elected for four-year terms with three Council members up for re-election every two years.
A candidate is elected at the Primary if he or she receives a majority (more than 50 percent) of the votes cast. If one or more of the contested seats is not filled at the Primary, a General Election will be held May 18. Both the Primary and General elections will be polling-place elections as in prior election years. Early ballots will be available from the Coconino County Elections Department, which also maintains a Permanent Early Voting List.
The City Council will decide at its regularly scheduled Dec. 12 meeting whether to place a question on the Primary Election ballot to extend the Alternative Expenditure Limitation or Home Rule option.
Candidate packets are available at www.williamsarizona.gov/Elections/ElectionCentral.htm.
