The vacancies in Richmond and Washington are filled through special elections. Therefore, the vacancy of the Roanok Council is filled with a meeting. – Cardinal news

When del. Jeff Campbell, R-Smyth County, resigned in June 2023. In anticipation of being appointed judge, he had only stayed six months in his two-year term-and only a day special session to cope with a budget that which who who who Everyone knew they would go almost unanimously.

Nevertheless, special elections were scheduled in the summer to choose his heir.

This is because the state legislation requires special elections to be held to fill legislative vacancies-a new state law that comes into force that summer (sponsored by State Senator David Sütterlein, R-Roanoke County) behave immediately.

When reporter Donald Makaychin, D-Richmond, died in November 2022, special elections were called to fill in this place.

This is because state legislation requires special elections to fill the free space in Congress.

When Joe Kob was elected mayor of Roanok in December after a census, it meant that he should resign in his place of the City Council, which still remains for two years.

The Roanok Municipal Council then set out to appoint an heir to fill the rest of Cob’s term. He failed to do so – the other six council members could not agree on the three finalists and therefore asked the court to elect a member of the Council.

This encouraged Lynchburg Council member Marty Miss Jones to publish on Facebook: “The circus moved to Roanoke.”

This is certainly not a favorable beginning for the Roanok Council, which has a 6-1 democratic majority (divisions of the 6-1 of the Republican Lynchburg majority show how the great majority is not always equal to a broad agreement).

I am curious about something else: why is it allowed for Roanoke to appoint a member of the Council to serve two years when state legislation requires special elections for the General Assembly or Congress, even when it can be included much shorter? This two -year stay on the Council may only be part of the Cob’s term of office, but during time, this is equal to a full term for a member of the Chamber of Delegates or the House of Representatives.

The immediate response lies in the city charter, which writes the procedure for filling in the vacancies on the Council: If less than two years of the deadline remains to be completed, the Council fill in it. If they are left over two years, they are called special elections.

Should the Roanoke Charter be changed to require special elections when there is a vacancy? Maybe Roanokers will want to talk about it. Here is a little mathematics: the free place of the state senate is 1/40 of the state senate. Free house for delegates or free space in the US Senate is 1/10 by the House. The headquarters of the Free House of Representatives is 1/45 of this body. All of these require special choices. Here, however, the vacancy of the Roanok Municipal Council is 1/7 of the Council, but no special elections are required.

So, how unusual is it to appoint a council member for what would be just under two now?

I looked at the charters of all 38 cities in Virginia and here’s what I found:

• Sixteen mention only job vacancies through meetings.
• Ten specifically require special elections (although they often allow temporary appointment until special elections can be held).
• Six (including Roanoke) provide special elections if the remaining term is more than two years, but otherwise fills the vacancies through meetings.
• Six leave the process to any applicable state law.

That’s where things get interesting. In the study of this column, I was given conflicting interpretations of this “applicable state legislation”. I guess this is what supports lawyers in the business.

The code section that deals with the filling of job vacancies-2.42-225-starts with: “This article applies to vacancies in any constitutional or local office chosen, if there is no other legal or charter provision for filling up vacancy In the service. “This seems quite simple, but then the next sentence states:” The more provisions of this article, which specifically repeal other laws or charters, prevail. ”

So, which provisions do the charters and which do not?

Further in this section of the code-24.2-228, there is a language that describes how to make a temporary meeting, but then continues to say: “Regardless of any provisions for the Charter, fill in the free space through special elections …”

Michelle Goody, Executive Director of the Virginia Municipal League, says the ruling language is that the first sentence – “This article is applied to vacancies in any constitutional or local service, if there is no other legal or charter In the service of the service, “and the other language applies only if there is no language in the charter.

However, a bill that the General Assembly adopted in 2010, which added that “regardless of language”, it seems that the intention of the legislature is to require special elections in all circumstances. The unofficial summary of the bill of the website of the General Assembly (and the “unofficial” can be the operational word here) is quite clear: “It provides that vacancies in a managing body or the chosen school board are filled in special elections. If the vacancy is not that of a constitutional employee, the position can be temporarily filled by temporary appointment. The requirement for special elections overturns the charter provisions that allow the governing body or school council to appoint a person to serve the rest of the deadline. ”

So can it be made that Roanoke has to choose a heir to COBB? The interpretation varies.

Here’s quite clear. Three cities – Chesapike, Hampton and Virginia Beach – have charters who specifically say that if the council member wants to run for mayor, and their conditions are not brought, then the member of the Council must resign so that they can resign so that they can resign so that they can resign so that special elections are held at the same time as mayoral elections. Is this a good idea or bad? All I know is that if Roanok had such a provision, we would not have this situation because Roanokers would already choose Cob’s heir.

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