Mower County may soon have legislative permission to move forward to potentially make the recorder role an appointed position, but it may not be soon enough for the county to enact the change before the next election.

A bill to allow the Mower County Board of Commissioner to explore the option of making the recorder an appointed job instead of an elected position recently passed in the Minnesota House and the Senate will likely vote on the bill sometime within the next week. If the Senate passes the bill with the same language as the House bill, the bill could move on quickly to Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Mower County Coordinator Craig Oscarson said.

If the language changes, the bill could potentially take longer to be approved.

If Recorder Sue Davis decides to retire at the end of the year, the bill would give the county the option to appoint a recorder. Oscarson said doing that would change the status of the position and give the board more control over who serves.

The county board is quickly running out of time to be able to enact the change before candidates file in May for the primaries, which is much earlier than the previous filing date of August. If the bill is approved, Oscarson said the county board would still have about five weeks of steps to complete before they could vote on changing the recorder’s classification.

The board must publish its intent to change the status of the recorder position, then there’s a period for the public to file a petition, and then the board must hold a public hearing.

Oscarson said there’s a chance the bill could be approved by the governor before the board’s next meeting on April 13. If the bill takes longer to be approved and the board is unable to enact the change before the May filing period for the primary, Oscarson said the board may still be able to make the change now. However, the change wouldn’t take effect until after the next four-year term.