No appointment made for vacant UW-L district seat on city council; election set for April 1
La Crosse Tribune: Caden Perry | Published on 7/13/2024
The La Crosse City Council elected not to fill its vacant District 5 with an appointment Thursday and instead will wait for a special election April 1.
The council seat was left vacant when UW-La Crosse student Jenasea Hameister graduated from the university in May. Hameister served on the council from September 2022.
District 5 is composed of UW-L grounds and is usually represented by a student living on campus. Classes at UW-L don’t start until Sept. 3, and council members must live in their district for 28 days to be considered.
The council quickly confirmed a special election to fill the seat April 1, 2025. If not approved, the seat would have been vacant until 2027.
The seat will stay open until the April special election. Council members decided to not appoint a resident in the interim. Some council members said it could be unfair to fill the seat while the full population is not currently in the district.
“Let’s just let this play out, have a real election in April and allow the people who will be represented to be present to participate in that electoral process,” council member Mark Neumann said. “There’s an advantage to actually doing polling papers and actually doing some campaigning to make yourself known, instead of doing a brief presentation before our council.”
Council member Jennifer Trost argued there were plenty of students available to consider appointing in fair time. Student government and club chairs are already filled for the upcoming year and UW-L staff could help identify these open students exhibiting leadership skills, she said.
“I think the greater harm is leaving this position empty and lack of representation for what would be a year, it concentrates our power into 12 people, and all of us are homeowners in a city that’s actually 50% renters,” Trost said. “We often have elections that only have one candidate, where there’s no opponent.”
District 5 has been a turbulent position in the past as student schedules change, people graduate and school years come and go. Previous council member Jenasea Hameister was first appointed when UW-L student Justice Weaver resigned for health reasons. Hameister was later reelected in the next election.
“Going into the election, many times, incumbents are in favor during the voting,” council member Larry Sleznikow said. “I understand the idea of appointing someone. Now in any other district, I would definitely be in favor of doing that, but in this particular district, I think it’s important that we let the residents of the district select their representative.”