Election Commission approves rescheduled special election regarding water tax for Elkins
Posted on Saturday, July 12, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/News/67057/
It was time to start over again for the Washington County Election Commission on Friday when members signed a notice of election for a special election on a water tax in Elkins.
The commission checked and approved the ballot for the Sept. 9 election and ordered about 1, 100 ballots.
“ This being a tax election, we expect a significant turnout, ” said John Logan Burrow, chairman of the Election Commission.
The actions the Election Commission took Friday had to be repeated because the election originally scheduled for Aug. 12 had to be postponed.
Last month, Elkins city officials were forced to wait an extra month to conduct the election for a proposed 1-cent sales tax to support water and sewer system expansion because they did not publish the date of the election in a newspaper 50 days before the election, which would have met a state requirement.
At its July 7 meeting, the Elkins City Council unanimously approved Sept. 9 for the new special election date.
The election allows citizens to decide whether they want to levy the tax and whether it would go to purchasing bonds for a $ 6 million project to replace the 40-year-old, 8-inch line that runs from one end of the city to the other with a 14-inch line.
In other business, the Election Commission welcomed Renee Oelschlaeger of Fayetteville, a Republican who has been appointed by Republican Committee Chairman Norma Patterson to replace Tom Lundstrum Jr., a Springdale Republican. It is expected to be a temporary replacement.
Oelschlaeger has yet to be sworn in because Lundstrum is still on the Commission.
Lundstrum plans on serving on the commission until July 31.
Oelschlaeger is expected to serve from August through mid-November.
This all came about because Sharon Green, a Democrat, in May exercised a statutory provision to request that the younger Lundstrum vacate his Election Commission post because his father, Tom Lundstrum Sr., is running against her for the District 1 justice of the peace seat in Washington County. Her concern was conflict of interest.