Voting in Nashville election may change this year

The Town of Nashville may have to use different procedures for voting than it has in the past.

The town is the only entity that has an election scheduled for 2019. Its elections sometimes fall on years when the county also is having elections, so the county election board conducts both elections.

On other “off” years like this one, often, town candidates wouldn’t have any opposition on the ballot, so the town wouldn’t have an election that year. The last time the town conducted its own election at Town Hall was in 2003, said Nashville Clerk-Treasurer Brenda Young.

Since 2003, election laws have changed, and more requirements concerning accessibility have been added, she told the town council at its February meeting.

It’s too early to tell if any candidates will have opposition on the 2019 ballot, as the deadline to file isn’t until July. However, Young asked the council to think about how it would like to proceed.

The town council could decide to pass a resolution to form its own election board, or it could ask the county’s election board to conduct the election instead. The town would still be paying for the election either way, she said.

The town will be required to conduct the election on electronic equipment such the county uses, not on paper, she said. If the town decides to form its own election board, it would be responsible for leasing that equipment.

Brown County Clerk Kathy Smith, secretary of the county election board, and Susanne Gaudin, president of the county election board, both attended the town council meeting. They are two of the three members of the board.

Gaudin told the town council that she was unable to talk to them because two members constitute a quorum, and no meeting of the election board had been publicly announced.

Smith began to speak to the council, saying that she was there as county clerk and not a member of the election board. Gaudin attempted to stop her, saying she was violating the Open Door Law.

The town council welcomed the county election board to come back and speak in March if the board wished. That topic is not listed on the agenda for the March 21 town council meeting.

Three town offices will be up for election in November: two town council seats, currently held by Jane Gore and Alisha Gredy, and the clerk-treasurer job, currently held by Young.

Parking request finally denied for Wells Drive

A Wells Drive resident will not be allowed to keep parking his vehicle on the street after police received complaints from a neighbor.

The town council decided at the February meeting to give resident Dan Snow a week to remove a vehicle from his property or it would be towed. The town police department had been dealing with this issue since fall.

Snow had petitioned the council earlier this year to allow him to park one of his three vehicles on the street like has for years because only two of them fit in his driveway, and he didn’t want to go to the expense of building another parking area for the other one. He also believed that part of the area where he parked might not belong to the town.

The council considered his request and went to the area to see how much width was left for other vehicles to maneuver on the road.

While she was there, town council member Nancy Crocker said she noticed that one of Snow’s three vehicles was not operable. She found an ordinance which said that it is not permitted in town to have vehicles on your property that don’t run. However, she believed that he should be allowed to continue parking one vehicle in a particular place on the street, where it appeared that other drivers had enough space to maneuver around it.

Town Attorney James T. Roberts said that he had concern about the town council taking an action that could be construed as an “illegal vacation” of the road space it owns. Even though the road is not actually 30 feet wide, it was platted that way, and that space is the town’s. If the town wanted to officially “vacate” that section of road and allow Snow to claim it as his parking area, the town would have to contact neighbors anyway to see if they would object, he said.

Other town residents do have parking spots designated on town roads, but those are only for residents who don’t have driveways, said Town Administrator Phyllis Carr. Snow has a driveway; it just doesn’t have enough space to park three vehicles in it.

“If you don’t have enough property for all three vehicles, then you can’t have three vehicles, like in any city,” said audience member Robyn Bowman, a real estate agent.

Crocker and audience member Michele Wedel wondered whether the town would have to tell everyone who had an inoperable vehicle on their property that they had to move it, if that’s what they were doing in this case.

Council President Jane Gore said that the council was dealing with this because Snow had come to them, and if another situation like it comes up, “we’ll deal with it on an individual basis as far as I’m concerned.”

The suggestion passed 3-1 with member Anna Hofstetter abstaining. Council member David Rudd was absent.

Crocker sent apologies to Snow, but said they had to think of the whole town.