By PETER HUSSMANN
Newton City Councilman Mike Hansen is in one of those damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't situations that sometimes arise at the local political level. His boss wants him to hire her.
Sheri Benson is one of seven candidates hoping to be selected for appointment Monday to the unexpired term of Ron Foreman. While that alone poses no difficulty for Mr. Hansen, the problem arises when you consider Ms. Benson's role as a sitting school board member. In essence, Ms. Benson is Mr. Hansen's boss due to his employment with the school district.
And what compounds matters is that Mr. Hansen and Ms. Benson sit on the opposite sides of the labor contract negotiating table. And that is expected to continue due to Ms. Benson's decision to seek re-election to a four-year term at the Sept. 8 school board election. Her chances for election look good - there are four candidates for the four open seats.
Interestingly, individuals may serve on both a school board and city council at the same time. Iowa law does not prohibit it, according to officials with the Iowa School Board Association.
So you can see Mr. Hansen's dilemma. If he votes for her, it could be viewed as an attempt to gain some favor during the next round of contract negotiations. If he votes for one of the others, Ms. Benson might be viewed as holding some type of grudge the next time the two meet at the negotiating table.
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If Mr. Hansen does not recuse himself from Monday's appointment vote, the winning candidate will have to receive assent from four of the five council members. And with so many seeking the seat - Lonnie White, Harold Martin, Richard Atwood, Dave Aldridge, Jeremy Heaberlin, James Klier, as well as Ms. Benson - garnering that many votes could take a few rounds of balloting.
However, if Mr. Hansen decides it might be best to sit it out, the winning appointee will need to get three of the votes from the four remaining council members.
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Which brings us to another possibility. Even though the council has decided to appoint Mr. Foreman's replacement until the November general city election, voters dissatisfied with the selection could still petition for a special election. Such a petition would need to be filed within two weeks of Monday's appointment. That then would require that a special election for the seat be held just weeks prior to the November general election.
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