Democracy on the Front Lines
City Administrator’s Blog
Walter Denton
July 16, 2010
There have been several articles (here, here, and here) and contradictory editorials (here and here) on a possible restructuring of the O’Fallon City Council. While there is nothing inherently wrong with the current arrangement, it is a good policy discussion for our local
democracy.
The topic was raised as a result of our discussion on council ward redistricting. Due to rapid growth in the 2000’s, the number of residents per ward is not consistent throughout the seven wards. However, the City cannot do anything with redistricting until the 2010 Census is completed and we have updated population data.
In the meantime, members of the Finance and Administration Committee questioned that before we begin working on ward redistricting, we should have consensus on how many wards there should be. Then the committee began discussing other restructuring issues such as number of aldermen, number of wards, number of aldermen per ward, or whether we should have wards at all.
Before we go further, perhaps I should explain why we can even discuss changing our form of government. Before we became a Home Rule city in 2005, the City of O’Fallon was classified by state statute as an “aldermanic” form of government. State law set rules on the number of residents per ward and required two aldermen per ward, which is why we have seven wards and fourteen aldermen. When a city becomes Home Rule, the government is not tied to the state laws on form of government and can organize itself differently through a referendum election.
That said, there is no magic number on city council size. The average city council is around seven members. Most cities of our size have fewer aldermen but we are not unique. Nevertheless, the great thing about American democracy is that we can tailor our local government to each community. If a community prefers a lot of elected officials (or not as many), then they can have that way. There is no right or wrong answer.
There are pros and cons with any city council configuration, so it really depends on the culture of the community. More aldermen means the elected officials can be more responsive to residents, but a large city council can complicate goal-setting and decision-making. The City would save some money with fewer aldermen (although not a lot of money), but a smaller city council can lead to instability because each election can trigger disruptive shifts in council majorities.
I don’t know if any changes will be made. There is currently no consensus among the City Council on a different configuration, and a referendum election would be a difficult process.
Nevertheless, I believe it is beneficial for the City Council to have the conversation. Particularly in our current environment of economic crisis and budget shortfalls, we should evaluate all aspects of our organization to position O’Fallon for continued success.
Thanks for reading.
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