Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 12, 1992                   TAG: 9203120322
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By JOEL TURNER MUNICIPAL WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

PANEL ADVISES ELECTING MAYOR

This was the consensus Wednesday among members of a citizens' task force studying alternative-election systems for the city.

If a change is made in Roanoke's at-large system for selecting the council, the task force members said they favor a mixed system rather choosing all members by wards.

The 14-member panel won't make its recommendation to City Council until summer, but there appeared to be near-unanimous opinion that the mayor should continue to be elected directly by voters.

In Richmond and several other cities in the state, the council chooses one of its members to be mayor. Richmond also chooses all of its council members by wards.

Several speakers have told the panel that there seems to be more political discord in cities that choose all council members by wards.

Timothy O'Rourke, a professor at the University of Virginia's Center for Public Service, recommended earlier that the city keep electing its mayor by the voters.

"There is a feeling that if you elect all members by wards, it could be divisive," said Wendell Butler, chairman of the task force, which was appointed by City Council.

The panel, which has finished its fact-finding phase, will develop several alternative-election plans for a seven- and a nine-member council.

The task force will hold a series of public workshops to determine voters' reaction to the plans, but not until after the May 5 council election so the issue doesn't get interwoven with the campaign.

Michael Urbanski, chairman of a subcommittee that has prepared a report on the fact-finding phase, said the group did not make a recommendation because it wanted an objective document on the issue.

The report indicates that the cost of campaigning in a mixed-election system can be cheaper because ward candidates don't have to appeal to all voters. The report also cites advantages and disadvantages of an at-large system.

Among the advantages are a sensitivity to the concerns of all voters, moderation of racial and political conflicts, a higher voter turnout and a consensus-oriented council.

Among the disadvantages are the lack of broad representation from all social and economic classes, higher campaign costs, a feeling among voters that council is distant and a feeling among black voters that their ballot is ineffectual.

One option available to the 14-member task force is to recommend that the at-large system be retained.

Council members have said they might submit the issue to city voters in a referendum this fall.

If council decides to seek a change, it must get the approval of the General Assembly as well as the U.S. Justice Department. The earliest a new system could be used would be the council election in May 1994.

Keywords:
POLITICS