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Page I of I Driscoll, Margaret From: Brent Engebret NNW. Sent: Tuesday, November 18, 2003 11.,11 AM To: city .council @ci.roseville.rrin.us Subject: Special elections I am writing in regards to the questions that was raised in last night's city Council meeting, should there be a special election held for the vacant seat on the council after .fan 1. when councilman Klausing assumes the role as mayor, and if so when should it be? It is nay opinion after listening to the debate that a speclal election should be held, but the election should take place in the fall, in conjunction with the regular even year elections we traditionally have in September and November. The purpose of the time of year is three-fold. one, it assures a higher turnout for the election, since this is also the time we will be electing our representation at the Legislature as well as Congress. This is important that whoever is elected to fill the vacant seat, it will be with a greater representation of the populace in Roseville, Since this is also the traditional time of the year for elections, people would be more aware of the need to vote. Two, it saves money for the city. During the primary election debate this was one of the more prominent reasons given to eliminate the primary. It seems ironic to me that the same council members who voted to eliminate the primary, in part to save the city some money, are now the same ones championing the expenditure in this situation. I saw accusations last night of members flip --flopping on positions. Is this not a flip -flop in itself? Third, it would provide time for candidates to run a proper campaign and educating voters on their positions on important city issues. I'm sorry, but period of 70 days in the dead of winter, when many of the citizenry out of state is not a great time for a campaign, nor an election. An argument presented last night, which whoever is appointed to temporarily fill the vacated seat would benefit from incumbency, does not hold much credence to myself. This past election season, I saw two sitting members of the council lose in primaries of their respective races. what advantage did incumbency provide those members? Mayor K was right last night when he said that ghat this whole exercise is about, rightly or wrongly, is to prevent our incoming mayor, in the event of a 2 -2 tie, selecting his own successor. Truer this world not help with the divisive perceptions of the council. But I don't thinly hastily scheduling a special election serves to alleviate that concern either. I. as a citizen of Roseville, mould expect that our incoming ,mayor as well as other members of the council set aside their differences, work together, and find a person in the community enthusiastically agreeable to both sides to temporarily fill the vacated seat. Then in the fall we can properly elect a candidate who would serve out the remainder of the terra, Brent Engebretso n 912 Transit Avenue Roseville III ' A P ■ w /W 1• , 11