The person elected Nov. 8 to finish the term of Lisa Jaskey will likely be the last Jefferson council person elected from a ward.
The city council at its regular meeting Aug. 23 directed city attorney Bob Schwarzkopf and the city staff to draft the necessary ordinance to eliminate the current three council wards and shift to a council elected totally at-large. The vote was 4-1, with Larry Teeples casting the dissenting vote.
The council had announced a public forum to discuss the change. Leora Davis, widow of longtime mayor Charlie Davis, was the only resident to speak. She asked why the council is considering the change, and said she doesn’t favor it. “If I want to talk to my councilman, and he’s at-large, there might not be any in my section. I might have to call out to the west. They won’t know what’s going on in my section,” she said.
Mayor Craig Berry said that all council members have done activities in all wards. “It’s not like a fiefdom, where council people have complete control over the wards. It’s more city-wide,” he said.
Jaskey said the committee organization promotes council members having knowledge of all parts of the city. Berry added that there have been times that three council members lived within only a few blocks of each other and it hasn’t been a problem.
According to council member Gary Von Ahsen, an at-large council would create “an opportunity for the best people to come forward at any time.”
City administrator Mike Palmer had been asked to research if other cities use council wards. He said Tuesday that an internet search for “council wards” brought up only large cities. He had done no other research to find if cities of similar size to Jefferson use wards or elect their councils all at-large.
Once an ordinance is written, it must be read at three different council meetings and then published for it to go into effect. The first regular city council election that would be affected would be the 2017 city election. The terms of Larry Teeples (now Ward 1), Harry Ahrenholtz (now Ward 3) and Von Ahsen (at-large) will expire then.
