Law clear: new ABQ council terms start Jan. 1 - Albuquerque Journal
The Journal’s Dec. 7 editorial regarding the Council District 1 seat bemoans a “cloud of uncertainty” and goes so far as to question whether the current City Council should carry on the people’s business if one councilor-elect is not able to take office early. Contrary to this stated opinion, these questions actually have straightforward answers grounded in clear state law and recent city precedent.
While the City Clerk’s Office always welcomes the opportunity to answer questions regarding election laws, there is no genuine confusion here. Voters elect candidates to take office for a term that is defined long before the election begins. In every election, the City Council prepares and passes an election resolution that identifies a) the positions to be filled, b) the term lengths, and c) the start dates. The 2021 election resolution, passed in June, declared “five (5) City Councilors shall be elected, one City Councilor to represent each of the following Council Districts for a 4-year term beginning on January 1, 2022: 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9.”
The editorial referenced a provision on vacancies that is not relevant to this election because there is no unexpired term at issue. City Council members are elected for a term of four years. Elections are held every two years, alternating which seats are up for election. If there is a vacancy in the first two years of a councilor’s term, the person appointed to fill that position serves until the next regular local election. At that time, the voters elect someone to fill the remaining two years of the term. If there is a vacancy in the last two years of a councilor’s term, as was the case with District 1, a person is appointed to fill the unexpired term and whoever is elected in the regular local election is elected for the following full term. State law unequivocally states “the term of office of a candidate elected in a regular local election shall begin on January 1 following the candidate’s election.” This is not the first time there has been an election involving a councilor who was appointed in the last two years of a term, and this election was handled like prior elections.
On Nov. 12, I asked that electees contact the City Clerk’s Office to arrange a time when the oath of office could be administered once they received their Certificates of Election – at no time did I decline to administer the oath of office. The Certificate of Election and the oath of office are required in order to assume the duties of the office, but they do not change when an elected official’s term begins. The law distinguishes between the oath – which can administered at various junctures – and beginning service. The oath is always administered before the start of the electee’s term, but does not enable an elected official to assume office at a point of their choosing.
Rather than simply scheduling a time to take the oath, what ensued was an unannounced spectacle in the lobby of the City Clerk’s office. While this approach may be good for cameras and political points, it fundamentally erodes trust in government, something we have seen happen to election officials around the country. New Mexico, Bernalillo County and Albuquerque have had strong and properly run elections over the past decade. That is something everyone who lives here should be proud of and should want to protect.
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source: https://www.abqjournal.com/2454730/law-clear-new-abq-council-terms-start-jan-1.html
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