The Wright County Courthouse at Main Street and Central Avenue in Clarion. Photo: Brandonrush, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
There is a vacancy notice on Wright County’s website for Supervisor District 3, posted Nov. 10, the same day the board canvassed the general election.
The county listed “Wright County Supervisor District 3 Vacancy” among its news updates on Nov. 10, with a link to a notice page at the courthouse site. The Board of Supervisors’ own directory still lists Dean Kluss as the District 3 supervisor, with a term that had been understood to run beyond this year’s ballot; District 3 was not among the supervisor seats KIOW reported as on the Nov. 3 ballot. Those races were District 1, where incumbent Rick Rasmussen won, and District 5, where Betty Ellis won.
The county has not, in the text that is easy to pull from the notice page, spelled out in a simple paragraph whether Kluss has resigned, when the seat would be vacant, or how long applicants have to put their names in. Iowa law gives boards of supervisors a process for filling a midterm vacancy, usually by appointment, with the details set out in the official notice. Until that notice is read in full at the courthouse or posted as a downloadable announcement, those are the questions to ask, not to guess at.
Anyone who lives in District 3 and wants the official terms should call the supervisors’ office at 515-532-3262 or stop in at the courthouse, 115 North Main Street in Clarion, and ask for the vacancy notice. The board’s contact list and district information are on the supervisors’ page.
A five-member board can keep meeting with a vacant seat, but it is a thinner margin on close votes, and District 3 still needs someone who will take the drainage, road and budget work that comes with the job. The notice is the starting point; the appointment, when it comes, will be a public vote.
Wes Bahl writes for Clarion News Online.