Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 8, 1991 TAG: 9103080334
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER MUNICIPAL WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Already, several preliminary proposals for a modified-ward system call for expansion of council from seven to nine or more members.
City officials have not started drawing boundaries or decided on the number of wards because they still are reviewing census data and population figures.
Councilman David Bowers said Thursday that although he prefers to maintain the current number, he would not rule out the possibility of a larger council.
He said some people think an 11-member council might be needed to meet U.S. Justice Department guidelines on black voting rights and to provide for several at-large members.
Bowers, who has advocated a change in the city's at-large system, said it's too early to say whether a nine- or even 11-member council might be necessary.
But Councilman James Harvey said he thinks council almost certainly will have to be enlarged if the city adopts a modified ward plan.
In a ward system, all council members would be chosen by districts. In a modified-ward plan, some members would be chosen by districts and others at large. Most council members, political leaders and community groups favor a mixture.
Two early proposals call for a nine-member council.
Robert Firebaugh, a former chairman of the city Democratic Committee, has suggested that six members be elected from wards and three at-large. He has recommended creation of three wards with two members chosen from each.
The League of Women Voters has revived a proposal it made more than a decade ago. The group has suggested alternative plans: One calls for five members to be chosen by wards and four at-large; the other has five members chosen at-large and four by wards.
The city Republican Committee wants a modified-ward system with "small wards," but has not made a recommendation on council size. One GOP official said the party is thinking of possibly five to nine wards, plus three or four members chosen at large.
William Fralin, a member of the Republicans' ward study committee, said that the GOP will wait until more complete census data is available before recommending a specific size.
The Republicans favor many small wards - Fralin said there has been talk of 12 to 15 - because they believe council members would be more responsive to constituents.
City Attorney Wilburn Dibling has suggested that two wards should be created with a majority black population because the new system should provide proportionate representation for blacks.
Federal guidelines would require only that the plan assure that blacks retain the same opportunity to elect candidates of their choice as in the at-large system. But a plan that doesn't provide proportionate representation might produce objections, he said.
Two of the seven current council members are black - 28.6 percent. The city can use a combination of ward and at-large seats, but the black percentage will be measured against all council seats rather than just the ward seats, Dibling said.
If there were a nine-member council - seven ward and two at-large members - for instance, the city should create two wards with a majority black population, he said. This would provide blacks with 28.6 percent of the wards and 22.2 percent of the nine seats.
Dibling said Thursday the city now might face an even tougher job in devising a plan acceptable to the Justice Department because the recently released 1990 census figures show that blacks make up 24 percent of the city population, up by 2 percentage points from 1980.
by CNB