Nampa Candidate Orientation for 2025 City Council and Mayor Elections - August 11, 2025
Nampa Candidate Orientation for 2025 City Council and Mayor Elections - August 11, 2025\n\nThe City of Nampa held a candidate orientation on August 11, 2025, for individuals interested in running for city council or mayor in the November 2025 election. City officials, including Mayor (unnamed), City Clerk Shar Tim, Canyon County Elections Director Haley Hicks, Code Compliance Supervisor Kent Lovelace, Canyon County Clerk Rico, and Communications Director Amy Bowman, presented information on council districts, filing procedures, campaign finance requirements, temporary sign regulations, and an upcoming candidate forum. The meeting included a question-and-answer session.\n\n### Council Districts and Eligibility\n- The November 2025 election will elect council members from Districts 1, 3, and 5, and the mayor citywide.\n- Candidates must live in their district at the time of filing; the mayor must live in any district within city limits.\n- A 30-day residency requirement within the city limits is noted. The city is awaiting written guidance from the Secretary of State regarding any time limit for living within a specific district.\n\n### Roles and Responsibilities\n- City council members serve as the legislative and policy-making branch, responsible for budget, ordinances, and board/commission representation. The term is four years.\n- The mayor is the full-time CEO, presides over council meetings (voting only to break ties), and ensures ordinances are enforced. The position is considered full-time.\n- Current compensation: Council members receive $10,930/year, increasing to $18,930 on January 1, 2026. The mayor currently receives $110,510/year, increasing to $135,000 on January 1, 2026. Both positions include health and life insurance benefits.\n\n### Key Dates and Filing Process\n- Candidate declaration period: August 18 to August 29, 2025, at 5:00 PM (hard deadline).\n- Write-in and withdrawal deadline: September 5, 2025.\n- Election day: November 4, 2025.\n- Swearing-in: January 5, 2026.\n- Filing process: Candidates must first take their packet to Canyon County Elections (new location near the animal shelter and DMB) to verify voter registration and residency. Then bring the verified packet to the Nampa City Clerk's office.\n- Two filing options: Pay a $40 fee or submit a nominating petition with at least 5 signatures (10 recommended) from qualified voters in the district. The county will notarize the form free of charge.\n- Candidates are strongly encouraged to file early; a 5:01 PM filing on the deadline has been rejected in other jurisdictions.\n\n### Campaign Finance\n- A political treasurer must be appointed before receiving contributions or making expenditures. The treasurer can be the candidate or another registered Idaho elector.\n- Reporting is required once $500 in contributions or expenditures is reached. Monthly reports are due on the 10th.\n- Late filings incur a $50 per day fine after a 48-hour grace period.\n- Personal funds: Candidates may contribute unlimited personal funds, designating them as either a loan (recoverable) or a donation. Individual contributions are limited to $1,000 per election; political party contributions are limited to $5,000.\n- Canyon County Clerk Rico clarified that even if no activity occurs in a month, a candidate who has crossed the $500 threshold must still file a report.\n\n### Temporary Signs\n- Code Compliance Supervisor Kent Lovelace: Signs must not be placed on public right-of-way or in vision triangles (areas that obstruct driver sight lines at intersections).\n- Signs in violation may be removed by code compliance; they will be held for pickup.\n- Signs must include "Paid for by" disclosure.\n- On election day, signs must be at least 250 feet from polling locations (including early voting sites). Adjacent private residences or businesses are exempt.\n- Recent state legislation prohibits homeowners’ associations from banning political signs.\n- City officials requested that signs not be placed in traffic islands.\n- Candidates are advised to keep a log of sign locations and to remove signs within seven days after the election.\n\n### Candidate Forum\n- Communications Director Amy Bowman announced a candidate forum on Wednesday, September 24, 2025, hosted by the Nampa Chamber at their new building. Social networking from 5:00 to 6:00 PM, forum begins at 6:00 PM.\n- Candidates are encouraged to bring promotional materials. The forum will be moderated by the Idaho Press.\n\n### Questions and Answers\n- A candidate asked when paperwork can be submitted: Not until August 18, during business hours (8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Monday through Friday).\n- Regarding sign placement timing: There is no statutory restriction on when signs can be placed, but candidates should avoid right-of-way and highway district rights-of-way where rules may apply.\n- Clarification: Personal funds contributed to a campaign count toward the $500 reporting threshold.\n- The clerk reminded that the filing packet becomes a public record, including phone numbers and email addresses.
Meeting Transcript
I just wanted to say hi, welcome. Thank you for your interest in running for office. It is such an incredibly important role. And I just want to say thank you to each one of you for being here today and for your interest. And then we've got amazing people that are going to run the meeting and that are going to help you understand what to go through, which is so good to do. Thank you. So I'm going to exit. I just wanted to say welcome and hello. And thank you so much for your interest. Shah. Our city clerk, Shar Tim, and remind me of your name. Haley Hicks. Haley Hicks that are here today that are going to walk you through this. And you know what? As mayor, I think I do micro for those licenses. I just want to say that it's the city clerk for me as city working in the city. They're the ones that keep us in line. And I am so thankful for the expertise that Shar has that she helps me. Um whether it's running a meeting, they're the keeper of the records, making sure we do it all right. And so I am very thankful for our city clerk, Shar Tim. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Uh again, I am Shar Tim. I am the city clerk for the city of Napa, and my partner in crime. My name is Haley Hicks. I'm the director of elections for Canyon County. It's not working. Okay. So here's the agenda that we have for our brief time with you today. Uh we wanted to let you know that this is NAMPA's second election by council district. So the first time was in 2023. And uh now with this one, we are now converting fully to council districts. Uh one of the requirements now is that the council member has to live within that council district at the time of filing. We're going to talk about the city council and the mayor roles and responsibilities, as well as candidate filing dates and the packet. If you have not gotten a packet, um, it is in the on the back. It's also available online. Uh there's a brochure regarding campaign finance, and then we are going to talk about temporary signs. We have our code compliance supervisor here, Kent Lovelace. And then at the end, we are going to do um questions and answers. Uh we will give you a mic at that time because we are live streaming and recording this. So again, this is just a high-level overview of the information. Again, it's meant to be helpful, but not replace your responsibility to do your due diligence. Again, we ask that you write down your questions or save them until the end, and uh then we'll go ahead and go through that with you. Thanks. So, City Council districts. Districts one, three, and five are the ones that are gonna be elected in November of 2025, and the mayor is citywide. Um key reminder is you have to live in the district at the time of filing, and the the mayor has to live in any district within the city limits. Um you do need to be a qualified elector, which is something that um Haley will be going through. Um, and that there is a 30-day requirement to live within the city limits. We are currently um waiting for the Secretary of State to provide us written uh guidance on if there is any time limit that you have to live within a certain district. Uh right now the interpretation is that you have to live in the district at the time of filing.
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