by James Jordan, Sumner Newscow — In its final regular meeting of the calendar year, the Wellington City Council passed two ordinances adjusting to local election laws passed by the Kansas State Legislature at its latest session.

The state has mandated that all city elections will now be held in November starting in 2017. Traditionally, the City of Wellington has had elections in April after a January filing deadline.

While the city can no longer dictate the dates, the ordinance does require that it either gets 50 signatures or pay a small fee to register to run for office. The deadline to run for city council will be June 1 for a November deadline. If there are more than three people for every position available, a primary in August will be required.

People must now file for office with the county election office instead of at the city.

The other ordinance creates a meeting the second Monday in January to swear in new members.

Both ordinances passed unanimously.

Council member Vince Wetta said he knew there would be one seat open next time, and there may be more. He encouraged people to run for office.

Wetta, Jan Korte and Bill Butts will be up for re-election.

“We need some good candidates. It is a great experience, I think people would enjoy it,” Wetta said. “I hope a lot of people will.”

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In other business:

•The council also passed a resolution to contract with American Municipal Services in Carrolton, Texas, to collect court fees. When people move out of state, there is no way to collect fees they have left behind unpaid. This will be of no cost to the city.

•The city made it official to hire Shawn DeJarnett as its city attorney after Mike Brown resigned last month.

•Hospital board member Terry Deschaine presented a report on the local hospital and said it is in better shape than it was a year ago at this time. They are ahead on cash collections, compared to last year.

Deschaine said the hospital board had also asked interim CEO Barry Harding to stay on a few months. He came last year and agreed to stay a few months to help get the hospital on better financial footing. Deschaine said progress has been made, but they feel they need to do more.

•City building code officer Richard Jack was appointed to the Sumner County Economic Development Board. He will replace Annarose White, who is the Wellington Area Chamber Director.

•Mayor Shelley Hansel said she has been named chairman of the Regional Economic Area Partnership organization.

•The city received notification from the state saying a notice of violation had been rescinded regarding the water supply.  The TOC with is the Total Organic Compound level, were said to be too high, but the state said the city was not in violation at this time.

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