14 I NEWS I
OCTOBER 21, 2009 MID RIVERS NEWSMAGAZINE
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O’Fallon
City approves restructuring of city wards; representation to change slightly
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By Mary Ann O’Toole Holley It’s no secret that O’Fallon has been growing for some time, with new businesses, subdivisions and a loaded census of new residents. Now, in compliance with the City Charter approved by voters in April, the City Council has approved a new map of wards in the city, restructuring the previous four wards to five, shifting boundaries that may cause some residents to see new council representation. The City Council will continue to consist of two members from each of the five wards. Elections to fill the new City Council representatives for Ward 5 will take place in April 2010. However, each Councilman will now be elected for three years rather than the current two years. As before, the City Council will determine policy, enact ordinances and authorize expenditures. Jim Pepper, a member of the task force that recommended putting the Charter question on the ballot, said overall the City Charter will allow residents to have more control over their government. By having five wards, council representatives will be able to concentrate their constituents, and by serving three-year terms, the city will save about $111,000 in election costs, Pepper said. “We wanted to keep ward sizes at 7,000 to 8,000 residents so that council members could actually get out and do their jobs, rather than representing 15,000 people,” Pepper said. “It puts the council person closer to the people, and there is also a provision that indicates another ward could be added if the next official census shows representation is too high. This is all based upon a lot of research of what is the average and best representation for a city. There are no political motives involved.” The Charter is the most fundamental legal document of a city—a city’s constitution. It allows the flexibility needed in today’s environment to run a city the size of O’Fallon, while containing the necessary safeguards to protect citizens against the abuse of power, Pepper said. “The biggest changes in the redistricting are with wards 1 and 2,” said Councilman Dan Haney. “The way it is working now is that both councilmen Gardner and Rick Lucas live in Ward 1, and they are both up for election in 2011. If they both choose to run, they would have to run against each other.” Resident Lewis Swinger addressed the council at the last meeting, asking them to leave wards 1 and 2 on the north end of town. The redistricting, however, moves Ward 2 to the southern end of O’Fallon,
New Wards
with Ward 1 and Ward 5 covering the O’Fallon Old Town area. “I heard a lot of people saying they didn’t want to politicize the issue, but one of the main reasons to change the wards was to avoid confusion in campaign literature. I can see that would be politicizing it,” Swinger said. “The area surrounding City Hall has been Ward 1 and (Ward) 2 since 1912. I see no benefit in changing that for one election, while changing the tradition of O’Fallon for 100 years. I’m asking you to reconsider putting those wards back.” The council voted 4-3 to keep the redistricting as it stands. Haney said the new Ward 3 was the only ward to lose geographical space, but that happened because of the concentration of residents. The new Ward 2 consists of about half of the old Ward 2 and half of what was Ward 3. The new Ward 2 contains about 50 percent of the area along Hwy. K. “For residents, it means that they could be in a different ward number, and could have new councilmen,” Haney said. “There may be some confusion at first as to whom they should call if they need help, but if they call any of us, we will be happy to help.” The new ward boundaries will become affective after the April 2010 election. Tom Drabelle said two new council members will be elected to fill the new Ward 5. “The person receiving the highest number of votes will be elected to a three year term. The person receiving the next highest number of votes will be elected to a 1-year term,” Drabelle said. Additionally, the council seats that are up for election in 2010 from wards 1, 2, 3, and 4. Each be elected for a three-year term.