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The Herald & Review Archives
Herald & Review (Decatur, IL)
February 8, 2007
Section: Opinion
Page: A4
Our Views
By all appearances, the movement to change the form of city government in Decatur has stalled. It was announced this week that of the 1,800 signatures on petitions to put the issue of changing to an aldermanic form of government on the ballot, more than 500 were invalid. Brian Burcham, a founding member of Change Decatur, said that the issue would go to the voters in the future. Of the invalid signatures, 67 were from people who don’t live within the city limits, Macon County Clerk Steve Bean said. Another 272 signatures were of people not registered to vote and 154 were registered at an address other than where they lived. There were also 17 signatures that Bean said appeared to be signed by the same person. Bean said his staff were not handwriting experts but that the 17 signatures were "so flagrant." The clerk’s ruling, which is expected to become official after a hearing Friday, is the second blow to Change Decatur’s efforts. Last week the group learned at the 11th hour that a proposed initiative to change the city manager form of government would force Decatur to revert to a commissioner form of government. The group did not submit those petitions, but did ask the city council to correct their error by placing two questions on the ballot. Mayor Paul Osborne refused to consider the change, saying Change Decatur had not discussed the issue with the council. Currently, Decatur has a city manager form of government that includes council members elected by the entire city. In an aldermanic form of government, voters choose council members from separate wards within the city. In addition, Change Decatur sought to place on the ballot a switch to a strong mayor form of government. In this form, the mayor would be the CEO of the city, although often strong mayor forms of government hire a city administrator. There are some issues in city government that should be addressed. The cost of running the city continues to escalate, even though population has declined. There is also a feeling that the city is difficult to do business with and the city’s operation is not as open and "transparent" as some would like. In addition, City manager Steve Garman’s latest contract was approved by a 4-3 margin. That narrow of a margin may mean a lot of things, but it certainly is not an indication that everything is fine at City Hall. At the same time, Mayor Paul Osborne faces no opposition in the race for mayor, which is an indication that the public is happy with his leadership. Citizens have a right to petition to put issues on the ballot, and we support those rights. But Change Decatur’s failure illustrates a campaign that appeared to be hastily put together. It appears that Change Decatur’s strategy was to get the issue on the ballot as quickly and quietly as possible. It’s clear that the group didn’t study the law and, at the least, was lax in its signature-gathering methods. Changing the form of city government is a serious issue. We find it troubling that Change Decatur didn’t dedicate itself to running a campaign that was more "transparent." If Change Decatur is serious about putting the issue on the ballot in the future, we’d encourage them to use this time to educate the public on what a change would mean and what form it would take.
Copyright, 2007, Herald & Review, Decatur, IL
