The Winslow City Council passed a resolution last week establishing an election date, designating the election as a mail ballot, and establishing deadlines for voter registration and candidate nomination.
The City of Winslow Primary Election will take place on Tuesday, March 13, 2018. The positions of mayor and three council members are to be voted on during that election. City Clerk Suzy Wetzel said, “Anyone that is interested in running for office can pick up a candidate packet from my office at city hall between the hours of 7:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. That packet is going to contain all of the information that a person needs to have their name appear on the ballot in the spring.”
The deadline to file candidate nomination papers with the city clerk’s office is 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 13. City hall is located at 21 N. Williamson Ave.
Other dates for voters to be aware of include Feb. 12 as the last day to register for the primary election and April 16 as the last day to register for the general election.
The council also approved and adopted Ordinance 1299, amending Ordinance 637 regarding the schedule of rates, fees and charges. The recommendation for changes will add clarity to Section 8-1 Vehicle Impound Hearing Fee and Section 10-1 Zoning Fees.
“The vehicle impound fee is set by Arizona Revised Statutes, and revision to the fee schedule is to address an oversight on our part to update the fee schedule to mirror the statute amount. We have always been in compliance with the statute. We levied the right amount, but the fee schedule was off,” stated City Finance Director Elias Jouen. The fee for a vehicle impound hearing is $150.
Section 10-1 Zoning Fees directly reflects fees charged by the city to contractors with projects within city limits, including permits. “We have always passed the engineering costs to the engineers,” Jouen said, “and this will provide for the clarification on the schedule to reflect that the engineer’s costs will be passed on to the developer who is applying for the building permit.
Councilman Bob Schlesinger asked, “So we are not increasing the fees, we are just adding that statement?”
Jouen reassured Schlesinger that was the case, noting, “This just provides additional clarity on the schedule, but we have always passed on the engineering fee to the contractor or persons applying for the permit.”
Also included in the amendment to the ordinance is authorization of the council to reduce or waive permit fees. According to Jouen, “This is existing language. We just added it here on the schedule. The language already exists on the economic development policy, we just put it in both places.”
