Iowa City charter review commission to host public meeting

IOWA CITY - Iowa City residents are encouraged to attend the second public comment meeting to help potentially reshape the Iowa City Charter.

The Iowa City Charter Review Commission will host a community discussion on potential charter amendments at 6 p.m. Jan. 7 in Meeting Room A of the Iowa City Public Library, 123 S. Linn St.

Andy Chappell, chair of the commission, said the hope is that residents will think about the pros and cons of the potential changes being discussed. Participants will discuss the issues in small groups.

'We want people to think about both sides of those issues,” he said, 'The four that we've come up with have been issues that we all have discussed with what I would describe as a fair amount of comment from the commission.”

Chappell added that the second half of the meeting will allow residents to make open comments about any other issues not included in the agenda.

'We don't want anyone to not be able to get something out if they have ideas,” he said.

The topics to be discussed include:

' Election of mayor: Should the mayor be directly elected for a four-year term by a majority vote of citizens rather than selected by a majority vote by city councilors?

' District representation: should the district council members be elected only by the voters within the applicable district? Currently all voters participate in a general election vote, whereas the three district councilors are voted in by only respective district voters in primary elections.

' Referendum: Should the city charter be amended to allow people eligible to register to vote to sign petitions? Currently only individuals who are actually registered to vote can sign such petitions.

' Council compensation: Should the charter require a higher level of compensation for councilors and the mayor to better reflect the time required to serve? Currently a council member makes $7,072 and the mayor $8,070.

Created in the spring, the charter review committee will finish a report to submit any potential recommended amendments to the city charter by April 1, 2015.

Chappell said there will likely be another public input session when any formal recommendations are drafted.