Process For Filling A Wichita City Council Vacancy For Unexpired Term

The City Clerk will deliver the petitions to the Sedgwick County Election Office where they undergo validation.

Posted Wed, Dec 23, 2020 at 12:47 am CT

December 22, 2020

Step 1:

At the first regular Council meeting following a resignation, the Mayor will announce the vacancy.
The Mayor will announce that petitions by the prospective candidates must be filed with the City Clerk within three weeks from his announcement, providing the exact date and time.
Copies of the petition form may be picked up at the City information desk, the Election Office, or accessed from wichita.gov or sedgwickcounty.org/elections. Petitions must have a minimum of 100 valid signatures of qualified electors who reside in Council District III.

Step 2:

Petitions to fill the seat must be turned in to the City Clerk via the first floor Information Desk at City Hall or emailed to jmbuster@wichita.gov or ksublett@wichita.gov by the deadline.
The City Clerk will deliver the petitions to the Sedgwick County Election Office where they undergo validation.
Once the petitions are validated, the date for a special meeting of the District Advisory Board (DAB) will be set and the Community Service Representative (CSR) for the district will reach out to each candidate to confirm their candidacy and communicate the process. The CSR will then communicate the process to the DAB.

Step 3:

At the special meeting of the DAB, members will be presented with instructions, a list of questions for the candidates and a standardized scoring sheet.
Following interviews and scoring, the City Clerk's office will tally the scoring sheet from the DAB meeting participants.
If only four or fewer candidates have valid petitions, all of them move on in the process. If there are more than four, no fewer than four and no more than five candidates with the highest scores from the DAB scoring sheet will proceed in the process.

Step 4:

Individual meetings with each candidate will be scheduled with each of the Council Members prior to the next regular meeting.
At the next regular City Council meeting following the interview process, the Council votes by written ballot to appoint a new member to fill the vacancy until the end of the term (January 10, 2022). Each written ballot will be read aloud by the City Clerk. The chosen nominee will be sworn in at the next City Council meeting.