The City of Hughson has cancelled their General Municipal Election set for November because of a lack of residents interested in running for office.
The election was scheduled to vote for Hughson’s mayor and two city council seats, but the end of the deadline for candidates to file nomination papers to run for these offices saw little response. The City of Hughson Election Official had only received nomination papers from one person to run for mayor —Jeramy Young — and one person to run for City Council — Mark Fontana. No one filed nomination papers to run for the other Council position.
At a special City Council meeting on Aug. 25, the vote was made to appoint Young as the mayor for a full-term of two years. The Council also voted to appoint Fontana and Ramon Bawanan to the City Council for a term of four years each.
Under California Election Code Section 10229 the Hughson City Council had two options to deal with the lack of candidates for the open offices. The first was to allow the election to go forward and address any vacancies after the November election. The second was to cancel the uncontested election to save taxpayer money and appoint Young as mayor and Fontana as a council member, and appoint a qualified person as a council member for the remaining council position.
The terms for all three positions will commence after the Nov. 8 election.
The Council was advised that their decision must be made after proper notice was posted and published but no later than the close of business on Aug. 25. The Council made this decision, in part, to avoid incurring the expense of an uncontested election. The estimated cost to hold the General Municipal Election was estimated by the Registrar of Voters between $4,000 to $15,000.