Official who wants to serve on 2 boards at once hires lawyer

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    SCOTT COUNTY, Iowa (Quad-City Times ) — A Scott County supervisor has hired the same election attorney defending Iowa Republican U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks in the contested election outcome in Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District to keep his dual roles on the Scott County Board and North Scott school board.

Scott County officials will hold a public hearing March 15 on whether to declare a vacancy on the Scott County Board of Supervisors after receiving petitions from voters to determine whether Supervisor John Maxwell vacated his seat with his re-election to the North Scott school board.

Maxwell on Wednesday said he has hired Alan Ostergren, the former Muscatine County Attorney who is representing Miller-Meeks in the contested congressional race before the U.S. House, to represent him at the hearing.

“There is no basis to conclude that there is an incompatibility of office,” Ostergren said Wednesday. “There’s an (Iowa) Attorney General opinion that says there’s no incompatibility between the offices of county supervisor and school board member. … The Legislature has also passed language that makes it even more clear that there is no conflict … presuming the governor signs that. … We believe the claim that there is a vacancy has no merit.”

Maxwell on Wednesday reiterated he feels he is making a difference on both the county board and the school board, and was unaware of the potential conflict until recently.

“I love doing what I do,” he said. “Unfortunately, I got into an area that I had no idea (about). … If I’m guilty of anything, I’m guilty of wanting to do too much for people.”

Scott County Attorney Michael Walton last week sent a memo to county officials stating Maxwell serving dual roles on a Davenport board — as both an elected county official and school board member — conflicted with Iowa administrative code. And, according to a 1965 Iowa court ruling, “if a person, while occupying one office, accepts another incompatible with the first, he ipso facto vacates the first office,” Walton wrote.

“The conflict arises because both positions require membership on the Davenport City Conference Board,” Walton wrote in a memo to supervisors and three county officials.

The conference board, made up of the Davenport mayor and city council, county supervisors and Bettendorf, Davenport and North Scott school board members, oversees the city assessor’s office.

“Due to both positions requiring membership on the city conference board, the offices of county supervisor and school board member in this situation are incompatible,” Walton wrote.

Iowa Code states if the status of an officeholder is in question, “the entity or officer responsible for making an appointment to fill the vacancy shall decide whether a vacancy exists.”

In this case that would be the county auditor, recorder and treasurer, Walton previously told the Quad-City Times.

“It is not our opinion that a vacancy occurs automatically without due process” through a public hearing where arguments can be presented, Walton said.

That opens the door for a sweeping and controversial elections bill just passed by the Republican-majority Iowa Legislature to resolve the issue before county officials could act.

Tucked into the Senate elections bill sponsored by Davenport Republican state Sen. Roby Smith is a provision tailored to allow Maxwell, a Republican who owns and operates Cinnamon Ridge Dairy in rural Donahue, to continue to serve on both boards.

The provision allows for waiver of one of the positions on the conference board, thereby resolving the potential conflict, Walton said. Specifically, the proposed statute provides that “(a) waiver pursuant to this section does not cause the person to vacate any elective office.”

The legislation was expected to be signed into law by Gov. Kim Reynolds Thursday, and would take immediate effect upon enactment.

Walton said it his opinion the new law would resolve the conflict of interest, and if signed into law, “the basis for the vacancy does not exist anymore.”

Moritz, however, said county officials will still proceed with a public hearing scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Monday, March 15 at the Scott County Administrative Center, 600 West 4th St., Davenport.

Moritz said her office planned to send out a news release this week laying out the procedures and protocols for the public hearing.

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