Voting district discussion goes round and round

CROSS CURRENTS

Last week’s study session discussion on a possible ward or voting district City Charter Amendment was disjointed and a disappointment. e council, city manager and city attorney were all over the map in their 1.5 hour discussion.

In debating whether to put a de nitive amendment on the November ballot, the group got bogged down in the weeds with numerous details raised by the city attorney. Some observers had hoped that council would give Westminster voters the option of implementing some con guration of a wards plan. Basically, it could be with two councilmembers elected from each of three wards or have three members from three wards and three members at-large. However, legitimate questions came up that needed to be resolved before the city attorney could draft a speci c ordinance. Furthermore, the city attorney advised the council that such a detailed ballot proposition could not be ready for the August 14 council meeting. e deadline to submit ballot questions to the county clerks is Sept. 8 is begs the question: Why weren’t potential city charter amendment questions scheduled for discussion back in the spring? e idea of considering a di erent approach to elect councilmembers has been around for the last few years and 2021 ballot issue on this issue with its ill-de ned wording should have reminded those who were paying attention that this issue was still very much “hanging.”

It’s evident that city leadership dropped the ball on not just the voting districts issue, but by not allowing adequate prep time to get any other potential amendments ready for a detailed discussion and adequate attorney drafting time.

Council to consider a two-step process e conclusion reached by council was to have the city attorney prepare a simple ballot question (not the charter amendment itself) asking voters if they favor pursuing some type of a wards or voting districts con guration to elect city council members. e ordinance is to be on the Aug. 14 council meeting agenda. If voters approve the simply question in November, then a speci c plan with the necessary details would be worked on with public input for a future city election i.e. 2024 or 2025.

Aurora full-time mayor proposition headed to the ballot e petition drive in Aurora has produced su cient valid signatures

SEE CHRISTOPHER, P13