Southeast School Board election hits a few snags (update)
Update – Through coordinated efforts by the county clerk, State Rep. Mark Messmer and the Indiana Archives office, the question of eligibility for District A of the Southeast Dubois County School Board has been somewhat answered.
According to the files retrieved from the state archives, the election plan filed in 1973 for the school board positions was not approved by the trustees. However the state superseded the decision and approved the election procedures allowing the District A candidates to live in the town limits of Ferdinand.
Since that time most residents have assumed the District A position could not be filled by a resident within the city limits and the position has historically been filled by someone outside the Ferdinand city limits. The two Ferdinand residents, David Wylam and Neil Werne, both live inside the city limits and have challenged Brian Partenheimer for the District A seat.
On Thursday, the county election board decided no further action was necessary on their part. Since the time frame for challenges to eligibility of the candidates had passed, the board could not remove names from the ballot. The two names will appear on the ballot and challenges would have to be made to the school board and would not be addressed until after the election.
Original story – The question being asked by the Dubois County Clerk and the Dubois County Election Board is; who is eligible to run for Southeast Dubois County School board District A, residents inside or outside the town limits of Ferdinand?
The question began after the current District A chairholder, Brian Partenheimer, was challenged by Neil V. Werne and David Wylam in the coming election. Both are residents that live inside the Ferdinand town limits. The seat has historically been filled by residents of the Ferdinand Township outside the towntown limits.
Jarboe began to search the courthouse files for any records that defined the districts and came up at a loss. She has the 1968 file that originally divided Dubois County into four school districts and determined the number of board seats per district. A 1972 record shows the Southeast School Board voted to become an elected body but the districts aren’t clearly defined in it either.
At the meeting on Friday, the Election Board heard that over the years and several courthouse renovations, the files with the original decision may have been lost. The only file defining the districts in Southeast is an Amended Plan for the Southeast Dubois County School Corporation filed in 1992 and it is incomplete with only four of the five districts even named.
The next step in determining who may run for District A in the Southeast Dubois County School Corporation is a physical check of the State Archives in Indianapolis to see if they have copies of the missing files.
A call has been made to State Rep. Mark Messmer to check for the records but the board may not be able to complete the physical inspection of the state’s records until Wednesday this week.
If the records cannot be located, the election board will have to determine whether it has the authority to make a decision or if it will become an issue for the circuit court to decide.
Jarboe and the board are rushing to clear the issue before early voting begins on October 8.
