The way you vote for the Peoria City Council members will remain the same for the foreseeable future. The Council Tuesday night voted down two options to change the number of districts, and kept at-large councilman and cumulative voting on the ballot.
Two separate options on the same resolution were given the thumbs down, so the 5 districts will stay intact, with 5 at-large positions voted on by cumulative voting. A spirited but cordial discussion took place for over 3 hours on the issue.
The council had the option of asking for a referendum to be placed on the Spring Primary ballot. The two suggested options were 10 member districts with no at-large council members, or 8 district with 2 at-large members. No matter what the council decided, Mayor Jim Ardis wanted to see one of the two options left to the voters in March. Ardis said that way, the voters could vote for the selected option on the refwerendum or they could turn it down to keep the same system.
Ardis vocalized with most of the rest of the council, they wanted to find the best way to engage the growing minority voting block in the city. But, Ardis and others admitted to the plain fact it's tough to get much of a turnout at all, let alone the minority population to visist the polls.
The 10 member council idea lost 4-6, then the 8 district, 2 at-large plan went down 3-7. Councilman Gary Sandberg was absent.
