In an election glitch, Kewaunee Mayor John Blaha apologized at Monday night’s City Council meeting for not holding a council meeting to authorize a primary in the three-way run-off for mayor.

Blaha said he was unaware that the meeting was required until he spoke with former city administrator Brian Kranz on Friday, Jan. 8,  and Kranz mentioned that if a primary was to be held, a council meeting was required by state statute within three days after the deadline for filing nomination papers, which was Jan. 5. .

Blaha said that he then immediately checked with the Assistant City Attorney Keith Mehn to see if he could schedule a meeting that evening.   Mehn advised him that the three-day deadline expired at 5 p.m. that day and that since it was already 4 p.m. a half-hour or less notice for an emergency meeting, even if this were considered an emergency, would not be sufficient notice time for a valid meeting.

Open meeting rules require 24-hour notice to the public, but in no case can a public notice of a meeting be given less than two hours prior to a meeting, even in an emergency.

As a result the three candidates running for mayor of Kewaunee will not be on the primary ballot on Feb. 16.  Blaha said the error was caused by new staff who were not aware of the state requirements.

Blaha, who is running for re-election, is facing two other City Council members who are running for mayor: John T. Griffith and Sandi Christman.

The following candidates have filed their petitions to run for office in the April 5 election:

CITY OF KEWAUNEE 

Mayor

John Blaha (inc.)

John T. Griffith

Sandi Christman

1st Aldermanic District

Kathy Brown

Jason L. Jelinke

2nd Aldermanic District

Diane R. Jirtle (inc.)

3rd Aldermanic District

Ronald Gilbertson (inc.)

Janita Zimmerman

4th Aldermanic District

Donald Kickbusch (inc.)

CITY OF ALGOMA CANDIDATES

Mayor

Wayne R. Schmidt (inc.)

Virginia Haske

1st Aldermanic District

Kevin J. Schmidt (inc.)

2nd Aldermanic District

Janice Mueller (inc.)

3rd Aldermanic District

James Barlow (inc.)

4th Aldermanic District

Janice L. Dart (inc.)

Terry Hannah

VILLAGE OF LUXEMBURG (vote for three)

Dan Olson (inc.)

Ken Tebon (inc.)

Dan Porath

Wade Sicklinger

VILLAGE OF CASCO (vote for 2)

Village Trustee (vote for 2):

1 – Timothy J. Kinnard

2 – Francis Gilson

The primary election will be held Feb. 16 and feature three candidates running for the circuit court, as well as other state judicial elections.   The Denmark School District will also have a candidate run-off in the primary election.

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press Gazette: No primary for Kewaunee mayorial candidates