Voter, city candidate deadlines set for 2016 election

The Maricopa City Council approved deadlines for voter and candidate registration for the 2016 general election.

The primary election will take place on Aug. 30 and the general election will take place on Nov. 8. Voters will have to be registered within 29 days of each election. Any voter not registered by Aug. 1 will not be able to vote in the primary election, and any voter not registered by Oct. 10 will not be able to vote in the general election.

Elected officials whose terms end this year are Mayor Christian Price, Vice Mayor Marvin Brown and council members Bridger Kimball and Nancy Smith.

Resolution 16-01, unanimously approved Tuesday, reads, “Candidates seeking municipal office may obtain nomination papers, and other materials which must be filed by candidates with the City Clerk, at Maricopa City Hall 39700 W. Civic Center Plaza, Maricopa, Arizona beginning Jan. 20, 2016. Candidates must file nomination papers and other nomination forms no earlier than Monday, May 2, 2016, and no later than Wednesday, June 1, 2016 – 5 p.m.”

If candidates fail to file their nomination papers between May 2 and June 1, they will be unable to run in the 2016 general election.

The council also approved Ordinance 16-01 which changes the mayor’s term in office from two years to four years. The change will be adopted after the 2016 election.

“As you remember, Proposition 405 passed in 2014, which amended [the mayor’s term in office],” Maricopa City Clerk Vanessa Bueras said. “We wanted to hold off on amending it until now so that we wouldn’t confuse the citizens who look at our code and see we have a four-year term for mayor when in reality we had a sitting mayor with a two-year term.”

The council also discussed and approved a third amendment to the professional services agreement with the EPS Group adding $103,209.80 for the Edison Road Extension. The money was not budgeted for 2016.

“There is not a loss of any other project,” Public Works Director Bill Fay said. “It does cost $100,000 to the project, but the course of redesigning it will redesign the project so that instead of costing $5 million it will only cost $2.5 million.”

Other council approvals included a two-year contract extension with PFM Asset Management, L.L.C. for investment management services, the acceptance of a $60,395 grant for court victim advocate position, software program for advocacy, equipment and membership to the Arizona Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence, and an easement for electric lines with Electrical District No. 3 for the Copper Sky Police Substation.

The council will reconvene on Feb. 2 at 7 p.m.