The dialogue about how the Peoria City Council is determined was mostly well received Tuesday night. A council discussion about whether to place a referendum on the Spring 2012 ballot asking votes if they wanted to change from a 5 member and 5 at large council lasted over 3 hours. The council eventually voted against two proposed revisions, so the city will remain divided into 5 districts with one council member elected from each. And, 5 at-large positions will continue to be elected by cumulative voting.
Activist Joyce Banks was instrumental in getting the city to switch to cumulative voting years ago to potentially improve minority representation. Banks credited two Bradley University officials, Dr. Larry Aspin and Brad McMillan with presenting unbiased documentation of the history of the voting process.
McMillan, Director of BU's Institute for Principled Leadership in Public Service, was happy with the council's passion, despite a decision to remain status quo. The next step is to finalize the new 5 district maps. Each district council person will represent about 23,000 constituents.
