Court: Foyst to be removed from City Council

The Indiana Court of Appeals has determined that a Columbus City Council member was not properly elected to his seat and is to be removed from office.

According to an opinion released yesterday, Council member Jay Foist was never really a candidate for the District 6 seat and the court instructed that his opponent, Democrat Bryan Munoz be declared the winner of the council seat. That is despite Foyst winning the November vote with 454 votes to Munoz’ 309.

The opinion rejects a lower court ruling that Foyst was properly placed on the ballot.

At issue is whether the public was properly notified of a caucus to put Foyst up as a candidate, and whether filing deadlines were followed.

According to the appeals court, a notice of the June caucus was not properly filed with the Bartholomew County clerk’s office. The court says that the notice was filed on June 22nd, one day past the June 21st filing deadline. Bartholomew County Democratic Party Chairman Ross Thomas challenged Foyst’s eligibility and the county election board initially agreed.

A second caucus was held, but in July after the filing deadline. That fell under a provision that allows a caucus to appoint a candidate after the deadline under several reasons, including if a candidacy was successfully challenged. The second caucus also voted to add Foyst to the ballot. Which Thomas also appealed to the election board, but losing that claim at the election board and at the lower court.

The Indiana Court of Appeals agreed with Thomas’ argument that Foyst was never a candidate in the first place because of the missed filing deadline.

Foyst was not present at last night’s Columbus City Council meeting for the roll call at the start of the meeting.

You can read the Indiana Court of Appeals decision here: 20240717 Foyst Opinion

Indiana Statehouse photo courtesy of iga.in.gov