North Liberty voters to decide on ward system

NORTH LIBERTY -- North Liberty residents will decide in the Nov. 8 election whether to switch to a five-ward system of representation for the city council from the at-large system the city has now.

The issue was put on the ballot after citizens brought a petition to the city council in May.

The measure requires a simple majority to pass. If the yes vote carries, the entire council will be up for re-election in 2013 for a move to the five-ward system, City Administrator Ryan Heiar said. The council would draw the wards with the assistance of the County Auditor based on population balance.

The ward system would better spread council representation around the community, Ken Madole, a North Liberty resident for 35 years and a petition organizer, said. It also may draw more interested candidates because it would be cheaper to run for a seat by focusing on one part of town rather than the entire community, he said.

"I think you'd have better representation," Madole said. "I think it would open it up to more people and on the other side of that, I think the people living in those wards would have a stronger connection with their individual council person."

But one opponent, North Liberty City Council member Brian Wayson, said he thinks voters only being able to vote for one council person in their ward would detract significantly from the citizen engagement with the council. He also said the ward system would take population balance into consideration but may not result in widely separated geographic representation on the council, if that is the goal, and that it could limit interest by candidates since some wards may have no candidates who run.

"The thing that really worries me the most is you would only be able to vote for one city council person in each ward," Wayson said. "You could only vote for one-fifth of the city council."

Wayson also doesn't think North Liberty is large enough, with enough distinct neighborhood differences, to warrant the ward system.

Madole said North Liberty's growing numbers, with more than 13,000 residents in the latest Census, justify the move to wards, and he said other Iowa communities have the system.