Path to a vote
A council resolution or a qualifying resident petition can place the government-structure question before Cle Elum voters.
The City Council may pass a resolution proposing abandonment of the mayor-council plan and adoption of the council-manager plan, naming the proposed effective date.
The resolution initiates an election. It does not make the change by itself.
Qualified registered voters living inside Cle Elum city limits may sign a petition filed with the Kittitas County Auditor. RCW 35A.06.040 requires valid signatures equal to at least 10% of votes cast in the last general municipal election.
The Auditor determines sufficiency. A qualifying petition initiates an election; it does not itself change the government.
Preliminary signature number
Kittitas County’s validation report for the November 4, 2025 general election lists 420 participating voters in the City of Cle Elum.
That suggests a statutory minimum of 42 valid signatures. But the report does not expressly certify 420 as the legal petition denominator. Before any petition is formatted or circulated, organizers should obtain written confirmation from the Auditor of:
Petition signatures
Official petition signatures must be on paper, in ink or indelible pencil. An online endorsement does not count as a statutory signature.
Only qualified registered voters living inside Cle Elum city limits may sign this election petition. Each person must sign their own true name.
Under RCW 35A.01.040, petitions are printed or typed on single sheets of good-quality white paper. Every signature sheet must carry the same petition text: a concise statement of the action requested with the applicable statute reference. This proposal must name the new plan of government and its effective date under RCW 35A.06.040.
Provide numbered signature lines with space for each signer’s name, address, and date of signing. Each signature sheet must also carry the statutory warning:
WARNING
Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seeking an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
Signatures dated more than six months before the petition’s filing date must be stricken. Signing early does not preserve a signature indefinitely.
After the Kittitas County Auditor confirms the form and process, a printable petition could be made available here. Eligible voters would print it, sign and date it in ink or indelible pencil, provide their name and address, and physically return the signed paper using the confirmed return instructions.
A responsible petition sequence
Verify that Cle Elum remains a noncharter code city eligible to reorganize under chapter 35A.06 RCW.
Confirm the denominator, preliminary signature minimum, formatting, validation, filing, and election timing.
Use state-law requirements and obtain municipal-election legal review. The city attorney prepares the final ballot title under state law.
Campaign expenses already incurred, including website or domain costs, could trigger registration or reporting duties even if no donations are accepted. Confirm the sponsor’s obligations with the Washington PDC now; do not wait for fundraising or petition circulation. Sponsor identification alone does not establish compliance. See the PDC political committee guidance.
Only valid signatures count. Any future campaign should plan for a prudent validation margin rather than targeting exactly 42.
If the petition is sufficient, the question proceeds to an authorized election. Voters—not petition signers or the council alone—decide the change.
Election timing
RCW 35A.06.050 generally sends the proposal to the next general election, while state election law may allow the council to call an earlier authorized special election.
The current separately elected Cle Elum mayoral office is next scheduled for the regular municipal election on November 2, 2027. If council-manager government takes effect before then, there would no longer be a separately elected mayoral office.
No ballot date for this proposal has been set.
After voter approval
Existing officers serve the remainder of their terms. The incumbent mayor becomes a councilmember for the remainder of the mayoral term.
The city would still need to establish the manager position, recruit or appoint interim leadership, define reporting relationships, approve a contract and compensation, and implement the effective date stated in the proposition.
Read the controlling sources