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Study Begins on Electing Council From Voter Districts |
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Written by Jeff Radford
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Tuesday, 13 February 2007 |
Will Corrales move to districted elections for Village Council a year from now?
A new committee has been named to explore that prospect. If its
recommendations are the same as the last ones in 2001, and if the task
force meets its four-month deadline, the council may revise the
Village’s electoral system in time for campaigns in January 2008 that
could seat three new councillors three months later.
Appointed to the new Districting Committee are Joel Carty, Bob Rosenak, Roma Arellano, Michelle Frechette and Gary Kanin.
Since Corrales was incorporated as a municipality in 1971, members of
the Village Council have been elected at-large, meaning all candidates
are expected to represent all parts of the community, rather than
running from voter districts.
State law requires that municipalities with 10,000 or more in
population have districted elections. Some villagers insist Corrales’
real population already exceeds that. At any rate, the law also permits
municipalities of less than 10,000 to go ahead and split the electorate
into districts if they wish.
Based on that, some villagers convinced former Mayor Gary Kanin to set
up an exploratory committee in 2000. When the task force recommended
unanimously to go to districted elections, the matter was brought to a
vote by the council.
The council failed to pass the districting ordinance in December 2001 on a tie-vote.
The council resolution January 23, 2007 setting up the new exploratory
committee does not endorse districting, but asked that the option be
studied. It reads, in part: “the governing body seeks information on
the advantages and disadvantages, timetable, process, transition issues
(for example, councillors with unexpired terms), and likely
implementation steps of voter districting.”
While some villagers are adamantly in favor of districting (to prevent
citizens from one area of the community dominating the council), others
are just as strongly opposed to it (to avoid divisiveness and narrow
perspectives).
The defeat of the ordinance to switch to districted elections in
December 2001 led to serious disgruntlement among supporters of the
idea.
As Kirt Daniels, then-president of the Corrales Civic Association, laid
it out, “Despite the fact that many of us in the village think that
this is the best thing that could happen to Corrales, this [matter] is
a pre-ordained failure. The vote last time around was two against and
two for, with the two negative votes by Councillors Lucero and Callan.
“It is my opinion that Mr. Callan is deliberately not here tonight so
there can be no tie, and therefore no vote to break the tie by the
mayor —assuring that this will not be voted in, and that districting
will not happen.
“So we’ll go through another election like we have in the past; nothing
will have been changed, councillors will be elected at-large and the
same group of individuals who attempt to run this village day in and
day out will be back at it,” Daniels noted in 2001.
“I think the fact that Councillor Callan is not here tonight is a
deliberate subversion of our Village government. It does not allow our
Village government to act; it is a willful act to deny the people of
the Village of Corrales their will.”
At the November 13, 2001 council meeting, Callan and Councillor Walter
Lucero had voted against districting, while Mike Menicucci and Estevan
Pedroncelli voted in favor. The mayor did not attempt to break that 2-2
tie on what may have been a misinterpretation of situations in which a
mayor is allowed to break a tie. With a different interpretation from
the New Mexico Municipal League the next day, the mayor initiated the
process for the December 11 re-vote. But Callan’s absence thwarted that.
The proposed change to districted elections would have needed three
councillors in favor, or in the case of a 2-2 tie, the mayor would
likely have voted in favor.
But Councillor John Callan stayed away from the December 11, 2001
meeting because, had he voted “no” creating a 2-2 tie, the mayor would
have exercised his tie-break power to deliver a 3-2 vote to approve
districting. |
