All seven positions on the Baker City Council will be up for election Nov. 5, and prospective candidates have until Aug. 20 to turn in petitions with at least 48 verified signatures from residents registered to vote in city elections, or pay a $50 filing fee in lieu of the signatures.

July 8 was the first day to pick up a petition form from City Hall, 1655 First St.

Information packets for prospective candidates are available from Megan Langan, city recorder, at city hall.

To be eligible, candidates must have lived in Baker City for at least 12 months prior to the Nov. 5 election.

The City Council was left without any members last year after all seven resigned, for various reasons, between Aug. 11 and Sept. 27.

That triggered a state law that calls for county commissioners to appoint four councilors, the minimum needed to constitute a quorum.

Commissioners on Oct. 18, 2023, appointed Doni Bruland, Randy Daugherty, Larry Pearson and Roger Cole as councilors.

Those four later appointed Loran Joseph, Helen Loennig and Nic Carman to fill the remaining three vacancies. Those seven have remained as councilors since.

Daugherty said he plans to file as a candidate.

“The current council environment is calm and civil, no personal agendas,” Daugherty wrote in an email to the Herald. “I am hopeful 4 of the remaining 6 will also file. Councilor Pearson has indicated he will most likely not file and Councilor Carman will be moving outside of the city by the end of the year.”

Daugherty, who was elected mayor by the other councilors in January, said he believes “the hiring of Barry Murphy as city manager has been a big plus. I believe he is the long term solution to managing Baker City and I want to see the city remain on track with positive things happening. We’ll see what the voters think come November and how they score the performance of the current council.”

Pearson confirmed that he would not file as a candidate.

“Hopefully others interested in serving the needs of our community will step forward in the months ahead,” he wrote in an email to the Herald.

In most general elections, four or fewer council positions are on the ballot.

But the city charter states that councilors who are appointed more than 90 days before the next general election — as all seven current councilors were — then their terms run only through the first meeting of the new year after that election. In this case that’s January 2025, which is why all seven positions will be filled in the Nov. 5, 2024, election.

According to the city, the top three candidates will be elected to four-year terms, starting in January 2025. Four others will serve two-year terms.