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The Herald & Review Archives
Herald & Review (Decatur, IL)
January 31, 2007
Section: News
Page: A1
Group seeking vote on government wants fast track to ballot
MIKE FRAZIER H&R Staff Writer
DECATUR - A citizen group hoping to change the form of city government isn’t getting the help it sought from city hall. The group, called Change Decatur, submitted petitions Monday to the city clerk’s office in an effort to allow voters to decide April 17 whether to change the form of Decatur city government. Brian Burcham, vice president of All Service Contracting Corp., is leading the effort to replace the city manager and council form of government with a strong mayor and aldermanic system. Burcham submitted petitions Monday to allow voters to decide whether to divide the community into wards represented by aldermen. The community currently is served by council members who are elected at-large to represent the entire community. The group also seeks to abolish the city manager position. Burcham said the group did not discover until "a late hour in the game" that there was a problem with the petitions being circulated to abandon the city manager form of government. Change Decatur was unaware that abolishing the city manager’s position would cause the city government to revert back to a commissioner form. People who signed the petitions had "no idea" that city government would go back to a commission form, Burcham said. "In all honesty, I didn’t feel that we could submit the (petition) to get rid of the city manager form of government," Burcham said. So now they’re asking City Manager Steve Garman and Mayor Paul Osborne to put the issue on the fast track for council consideration. The council would have to adopt a resolution by Feb. 11 to put the questions to voters April 17, organizers say. However, the issue likely will not be on the agenda for Monday’s meeting, Osborne and Garman said. Osborne said doing so would violate the council’s adopted policies. Council members repeatedly have directed city administrators to give them adequate time to study an issue so they are not faced with last-minute votes on important issues, Osborne said. Garman agreed that the request is not consistent with the council’s direction on handling meeting agendas. "It would be a violation of at least two, if not more, of the policies that the council adopted," Garman said. The process of researching the matter, scheduling a study session, reaching a consensus of the council and voting officially on the issue could take weeks or months, Osborne said. "This is a citizen initiative," Osborne said. "I respect that; I have no problem with citizens collecting signatures to put something on the ballot." But, Osborne added, the changes proposed have never been discussed by the city council in a study session since he has been mayor. Osborne said he also has not been contacted by leaders of the effort to change city government. "The council was not involved in this at all," Osborne said. Change Decatur asked the city council to consider adopting an ordinance that will allow voters to decide whether to abandon the current council-manager form of government. Abolishing the city manager form of government would cause the city to reorganize in its previous form with city commissioners. Change Decatur hopes to allow voters to decide in April whether to abandon simultaneously the city manager and commissioner forms of government and adopt an aldermanic system. Osborne said he has no problems scheduling a study session to review different forms of city government. "The council was not involved in this," Osborne said. "Certainly, the petition route the citizens were doing is the correct route to go. "You can’t ask the city council to correct a problem when they were not involved in that process. Rushing it through the council certainly circumvents the process." Members of Change Decatur say they plan to continue with the push for aldermanic representation, even if the council does not place the other questions on the ballot. If a majority of voters choose April 17 to be represented by aldermen, the aldermen would be elected to represent wards at the next general municipal election in two years. The terms of councilmen would expire when aldermen are elected. Stephen Daniels, a businessman who supports getting the questions on the ballot, said Osborne and Garman have no trouble fast tracking agenda items they support, such as a vote on a multimillion-dollar deal for the 300 block of North Water Street. Osborne said it’s not a fair comparison. City leaders worked on a deal for the 300 blocks for "months and months and months," and the council was updated on progress in negotiations. Daniels said about 1,800 registered voters showed they would like to get an issue on the ballot, but city administrators effectively are saying they "don’t have time to deal with it" before the next meeting. "Here is an example of what’s wrong with city government," Daniels said. Daniels said the council could hold a study session Monday and a subsequent special meeting to vote on the issue before the Feb. 11 deadline. "It’s easy to get tied up in the mechanics of this and miss the big picture," Daniels said. "This is about having people accountable to the people who elect them." Mike Frazier can be reached at mfrazier@herald-review.com or 421-7985.
Copyright, 2007, Herald & Review, Decatur, IL
