MONROE - A majority of aldermen favored city elections by wards Tuesday at a special Common Council meeting.
The council is expected to introduce the newest proposed election system in an ordinance at its regular meeting July 19.
The ordinance would not require a change to the city charter and would need only a majority vote of the council members to pass. That vote is not expected to come until August, after a public hearing.
In an advisory vote, meaning the council is not bound by the decision, six aldermen voted Tuesday in favor of keeping city elections on a ward basis only, including reducing to nine the number of aldermen on the council and not adding a tenth at-large representative.
Aldermen Michael Boyce (Ward 3), Sara Conway (Ward 6), Thurston Hanson (Ward 7) and Chris Beer (Ward 9) voted against.
Beer said she voted for the wishes of the people in her ward.
"In my ward, the ones I talked to, three to one were for at-large (elections)," she said after the meeting. Beer said she spoke to about 40 people.
The council met in special session Tuesday, with a recommendation from the Judiciary and Ordinance Committee, to change the election system to nine aldermen elected by ward - plus one elected at-large. That recommendation failed handily (1-9) in an separate advisory vote, with only Conway voting in favor.
The idea of changing the city elections entirely to an at-large system has been tested. Last week, a charter ordinance for 10 at-large aldermen failed, 5 to 4, to received a two-thirds majority vote. Last night, the same idea in an advisory vote failed 3 to 7, with Brooke Bauman, Boyce and Hanson voting in favor.
Continuing city elections by wards does not require changes to the city charter - which would need a two-thirds majority vote to implement, because the city would not need to opt out of a system of aldermanic districts as set by state statute.
A number of citizens spoke at the meeting, most saying they preferred a nine ward system but without an at-large representative.
Whether the Common Council will take into consideration a number of voters who get passed over in the next election, unable to vote in their new wards because of redrawn and renumbered wards, is unknown.
According to Ron Marsh, about 670 voters, or 24 percent of the eligible voters in the city, will be affected. Marsh, the former mayor, spoke in favor of at-large elections or some manner of part-term elections in 2012.
Louis Armstrong suggested an election in the spring that would put odd-numbered council seats on the ballots for two-year terms, in the regular rotation, and would put even-numbered seats on the ballots for 1-year terms.
Even-numbered wards were just elected to two-year terms in 2011, bringing four new aldermen to the council: Bauman, Conway, Reid Stangel and Tyler Schultz.
Ward 10 is being eliminated and its alderman, Tyler Schultz, could challenge Charles Koch in Ward 5 next spring.
Asked by Boyce whether even-numbered aldermen would be willing to run again for office in 2012, Bauman, Jan Lefevre, Conway, and Reid Stangel said they would not have a problem with it.
The council is expected to introduce the newest proposed election system in an ordinance at its regular meeting July 19.
The ordinance would not require a change to the city charter and would need only a majority vote of the council members to pass. That vote is not expected to come until August, after a public hearing.
In an advisory vote, meaning the council is not bound by the decision, six aldermen voted Tuesday in favor of keeping city elections on a ward basis only, including reducing to nine the number of aldermen on the council and not adding a tenth at-large representative.
Aldermen Michael Boyce (Ward 3), Sara Conway (Ward 6), Thurston Hanson (Ward 7) and Chris Beer (Ward 9) voted against.
Beer said she voted for the wishes of the people in her ward.
"In my ward, the ones I talked to, three to one were for at-large (elections)," she said after the meeting. Beer said she spoke to about 40 people.
The council met in special session Tuesday, with a recommendation from the Judiciary and Ordinance Committee, to change the election system to nine aldermen elected by ward - plus one elected at-large. That recommendation failed handily (1-9) in an separate advisory vote, with only Conway voting in favor.
The idea of changing the city elections entirely to an at-large system has been tested. Last week, a charter ordinance for 10 at-large aldermen failed, 5 to 4, to received a two-thirds majority vote. Last night, the same idea in an advisory vote failed 3 to 7, with Brooke Bauman, Boyce and Hanson voting in favor.
Continuing city elections by wards does not require changes to the city charter - which would need a two-thirds majority vote to implement, because the city would not need to opt out of a system of aldermanic districts as set by state statute.
A number of citizens spoke at the meeting, most saying they preferred a nine ward system but without an at-large representative.
Whether the Common Council will take into consideration a number of voters who get passed over in the next election, unable to vote in their new wards because of redrawn and renumbered wards, is unknown.
According to Ron Marsh, about 670 voters, or 24 percent of the eligible voters in the city, will be affected. Marsh, the former mayor, spoke in favor of at-large elections or some manner of part-term elections in 2012.
Louis Armstrong suggested an election in the spring that would put odd-numbered council seats on the ballots for two-year terms, in the regular rotation, and would put even-numbered seats on the ballots for 1-year terms.
Even-numbered wards were just elected to two-year terms in 2011, bringing four new aldermen to the council: Bauman, Conway, Reid Stangel and Tyler Schultz.
Ward 10 is being eliminated and its alderman, Tyler Schultz, could challenge Charles Koch in Ward 5 next spring.
Asked by Boyce whether even-numbered aldermen would be willing to run again for office in 2012, Bauman, Jan Lefevre, Conway, and Reid Stangel said they would not have a problem with it.