Finally, Greg Abbott suggests that the Charter Commission adopt a 2-2-4-4-4-4 system of elections.� It would seem to make more sense to me to adopt the Minnesota Senate model of 2-4-4-2-4-4 etc. elections.� I think that the Charter Commission began discussions about this issue at their last meeting.
You could do 2-4-4, starting in 2003 and it would work - **IF** you changed the mayor's term to a 2-4-4 schedule as well.
Adopting 2-4-4 by itself would put Council elections out of step with mayoral elections. Here is what 2-4-4, 2-4-4 would produce if applied today: 2003, 2005, 2009, 2013, 2015, 2019, 2023, 2025, 2029, etc. There wouldn't be a council election in 2017 or 2021, when mayoral elections will occur. And there is no mayoral election scheduled in 2015 or 2019, when the council elections would occur under a 2-4-4. This pattern would repeat itself - every other decade the council and the mayor would be elected in different elections. Under this scenario, we might as well just go back to staggered council terms to avoid all the confusion.
The simplest change needed to accommodate redistricting is the 2-2-4-4-4-4 - you don't need to change the mayor's term of office.
Mathematically, the simplest solution would be five year terms instead of four year terms: for example, 2003, 2008, 2013, 2018, etc. That might not be the simplest solution from a political standpoint, though :)
I don't buy the idea that having an "unscheduled" election in 2003 violates the voter's expectations of electing someone to a four year term. And even if it did, those expectations are totally subordinate to the constitutional requirement of one person, one vote.
However, we should absolutely fix this for the future whether or not we change it for 2003.
Greg Abbott
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Greg Abbott [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Linden Hills
13th Ward (612) 925-0630
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