Could hold elections every 2 years instead of 4
By John Faucher
The Hortonville Village Board discussed updating an ordinance setting the length of terms for the office of municipal judge at its June 20 meeting.
Village Attorney Robert Sorenson informed board members that the village’s current ordinance dates back to the late 1980s.
He said since then, state statutes have changed allowing municipalities to set a term between two and four years.
Sorenson said the village has been running municipal judge elections every four years since 2009.
“So we are consistent with state law, but our ordinance is out of date,” he said.
Language in the village’s ordinance still states the office of municipal judge is a two-year term.
“If we wanted to go to something less than four we can. We can go anywhere between two and four years if we pass the charter ordinance,” Sorenson said.
Trustee Pat Lund-Moe asked for clarification since the village has held judge elections every four years, but the ordinance still says two.
“We have a number of things in our ordinances that are so old that when the laws have changed we haven’t changed our ordinances with them, and so when we catch them, we correct them,” Sorenson said. “It’s a housekeeping matter, that’s all it is.”
Lund-Moe asked if there was any benefit in having a two-year term versus a four-year term.
Sorenson said from an election costs perspective it is better for the village to have a four-year term.
Trustee Jim Moeller said a two-year term could be more appealing for attracting candidates.
Board members asked Hortonville Police Chief Kristine Brownson for her input.
“I know there are some agencies out there that wish they had the two-year term,” Brownson said.
She said if an elected judge does not work out well for a municipality, they are stuck with them for four years as opposed to two.
Village Administrator David DeTroye said in some cases municipal judges can be appointed. However, it is a bigger process to get accomplished.
“I don’t think we should go down that route. We should keep it an elected process,” DeTroye said.
He added if there were a lack of candidates, the village could become more active in soliciting candidates to run.
Lund-Moe and Moeller said they felt it was worth looking at what other communities are doing.
Board members agreed and referred the matter to the public safety committee for a future meeting.