The Washington County Board of Supervisors reviewed the next steps for filling the District 3 seat being left vacant on January 27th during their regular meeting Monday.

Supervisor Abe Miller announced his resignation from the seat that covers southern and eastern portions of the county citing personal reasons during the December 22nd meeting. County Auditor Dan Widmer said that during a meeting between himself and the county treasurer and recorder, they decided that the county would hold an election rather than appoint someone for the seat, “So we’ll be getting the word out for individuals that are interested in running, especially getting the word out to the Washington County local head of the Republican party and the local Democratic party as well to make them aware of it. They will need to then determine if they want to nominate someone.”

Widmer added that it will be up to those county parties to decide whether to hold a convention to nominate a candidate, and candidates don’t have to be nominated to run for the seat. He mentioned that the soonest they can hold an election is Tuesday March 2nd, and there is a possibility that this election could be combined with one for a Washington City Council seat if the city decides to hold an election. A caveat from the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office would be that polls would close for the city election at 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. for the county. No action was taken on when to hold the election.