MONROE - No primary is needed for the city's spring election of council members, and the ballots will not be full.
Wards 2, 4, 6 and 8 in the City of Monroe will elect aldermen in April, but Ward 4 will have no candidate name on the ballot.
Candidates had until the end of Tuesday to meet election requirements and declare their candidacies in order for their name to be printed on the ballots. City Clerk Carol Stamm said the only way a candidate can now consider a run for office is to launch a write-in campaign.
If no one wins the Ward 4 council seat, Mayor Bill Ross can appoint someone from that ward to fill it. Ward 4 is the general area between 11th and 17th Avenues from 16th Street to the city's south border.
Population redistricting following the 2010 census tousled city ward boundaries and the seated aldermen. The general election this spring will put council members in even-numbered wards back into their proper seats. The 2012 election did the same for odd-numbered wards.
Aldermen Sara Conway, now residing in the new Ward 4 but elected in 2011 under the previous boundaries to represent Ward 6, filed non-candidacy papers.
Redistricting left Alderman Jan Lefevre residing in Ward 6, but she also filed non-candidacy papers in December. Lefevre represented the previous Ward 4 for eight years.
Chris Beer has re-entered the council race, this time for the newly formed Ward 6.
Beer was previously elected alderman for Ward 9, before redistricting cut her off from the ward and made her ineligible to run in 2012 because of Lefevre's remaining year in office.
Up for their first re-election are Brooke Bauman, alderman for Ward 2, and Reid Stangel, alderman for Ward 8, and both have declared their candidacies.
Alderman Michael Boyce noted Wednesday at a Common Council meeting that the lack of candidates is a large reason he had supported changing city ward elections to at-large races two years ago.
"I know all the objections," he said, "but the school board does it, and in light of this, I think it deserves more consideration."
The Common Council at that time considered changing the ward elections to at-large races, allowing anyone from any part of the city to run for a seat on the council, but the idea lost to ward elections on an 8-1 vote in August 2011, with Chris Beer voting against. Beer had said people in Ward 9, which she represented, favored at-large elections by a 3-to-1 margin.
The council had also tried to pass at-large elections in July, but the motion failed to pass. Attempts to place an advisory referendum for at-large elections on the 2011 spring ballot also failed.
Villages, cities, towns and schools will hold elections April 2, along with the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Justice of the Supreme Court, and Court of Appeals judge in District 4 that includes Green and Lafayette counties among others.
If a primary is needed for any of those offices, it will be held Feb. 19.
Wards 2, 4, 6 and 8 in the City of Monroe will elect aldermen in April, but Ward 4 will have no candidate name on the ballot.
Candidates had until the end of Tuesday to meet election requirements and declare their candidacies in order for their name to be printed on the ballots. City Clerk Carol Stamm said the only way a candidate can now consider a run for office is to launch a write-in campaign.
If no one wins the Ward 4 council seat, Mayor Bill Ross can appoint someone from that ward to fill it. Ward 4 is the general area between 11th and 17th Avenues from 16th Street to the city's south border.
Population redistricting following the 2010 census tousled city ward boundaries and the seated aldermen. The general election this spring will put council members in even-numbered wards back into their proper seats. The 2012 election did the same for odd-numbered wards.
Aldermen Sara Conway, now residing in the new Ward 4 but elected in 2011 under the previous boundaries to represent Ward 6, filed non-candidacy papers.
Redistricting left Alderman Jan Lefevre residing in Ward 6, but she also filed non-candidacy papers in December. Lefevre represented the previous Ward 4 for eight years.
Chris Beer has re-entered the council race, this time for the newly formed Ward 6.
Beer was previously elected alderman for Ward 9, before redistricting cut her off from the ward and made her ineligible to run in 2012 because of Lefevre's remaining year in office.
Up for their first re-election are Brooke Bauman, alderman for Ward 2, and Reid Stangel, alderman for Ward 8, and both have declared their candidacies.
Alderman Michael Boyce noted Wednesday at a Common Council meeting that the lack of candidates is a large reason he had supported changing city ward elections to at-large races two years ago.
"I know all the objections," he said, "but the school board does it, and in light of this, I think it deserves more consideration."
The Common Council at that time considered changing the ward elections to at-large races, allowing anyone from any part of the city to run for a seat on the council, but the idea lost to ward elections on an 8-1 vote in August 2011, with Chris Beer voting against. Beer had said people in Ward 9, which she represented, favored at-large elections by a 3-to-1 margin.
The council had also tried to pass at-large elections in July, but the motion failed to pass. Attempts to place an advisory referendum for at-large elections on the 2011 spring ballot also failed.
Villages, cities, towns and schools will hold elections April 2, along with the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Justice of the Supreme Court, and Court of Appeals judge in District 4 that includes Green and Lafayette counties among others.
If a primary is needed for any of those offices, it will be held Feb. 19.