KEYSER — Unable to abolish annual elections in time to suspend this year's vote, the Keyser Mayor and City Council are moving to establish staggered elections that would allow for four-year terms and elections every other year by 2018.
The Council is also weighing whether to end municipal-only elections in favor of city balloting as part of elections for county, state and federal offices.
According to city officials, Keyser is one of the few municipalities in West Virginia that conduct city or town council elections annually. With primary balloting, that makes for two elections every year, at an annual cost of about $20,000.
Staffing the City Hall polling place with three to five poll workers is actually a relatively minor part of the elections expense. The bulk of the cost comes in paying city employees, who all receive the day off for both the primary and general elections. Essential personnel like police are paid overtime rates those days, as are any public works crews called out for an emergency.
City officials raised the issue late last year, but were unable to move on the plan quickly enough to make the change for the current election cycle. Three council members are up for election to two-year terms this year, under the city's staggered terms of
office. The primary election will be held April 13 and the general election June 8.
Under a plan outlined at Wednesday's Council meeting by City Attorney John Athey, next year's election would feature the mayor and the two council seats not up for election this year. However, rather than being elected to two-year terms, the three would be running for terms of three years. The seats would then return to the ballot in 2014, when they would be up for four-year terms.
In 2012, the three council seats up for election this year, would be on the ballot for four-year terms.  Elections would then be held every other year on even-numbered years.
“That way we'll be on a two-year election cycle starting in 2018,” Athey said.
In addition to extending council members' terms and eliminating annual elections, the Council also plans to eliminate the primary election because city elections are non-partisan.
If all of the changes are adopted as planned, the city would see its election costs reduced drastically, from $20,000 a year to the equivalent of about $5,000.
However, if the Council opts to piggyback with balloting at the Mineral County Courthouse for county, state and federal offices, the savings would increase further.
The Council members were non-committal on that point, deferring discussion until their Feb. 10 meeting.
All of the changes will be contained in a proposed ordinance that will be published in local papers, and then be the subject of both a public hearing and formal votes by the City Council.
Athey has indicated that state law calls for the measure to be taken to referendum if even one person protests the proposed changes. He said the details of how that process would work, and how soon such a vote could occur, will be worked out as the process moves forward.