Charter Commission Proposes Key Change To How Elk Grove City Council Members Are Elected

At last night’s Elk Grove City Charter Commission members made a key decision to expand the number of districts should voters decide to accept a proposed charter for the city.

The key decision was on how many districts there would be and whether or not there should be an elected mayor. Currently, the mayor is one of five council members and acts as the chair of the council and functions in ceremonial roles for the city.

The commissioners decided to include language that would have the city divided into six districts and a one mayor. Members would be elected on a district-by-district basis only. The mayor would be elected on citywide basis.

Although there would be seven council members including the mayor with equally weighed votes, the mayor would enjoy additional authorities not possessed by council members. However, the city day-to-day affairs would still be handled by a city manager and would serve at the will of the mayor and city council.

Currently there are five council members, one from each district, who are elected on citywide basis. Under the new scheme, the council would consist of seven members one of which would be the mayor.

The commissions also decided that a two-thirds affirmative vote of the city council would be required to transfer power from the mayor to a vice mayor should the mayor be unable to fulfill their duties.

The city council will review the draft document at a future meeting and can accept, decline or change the document as they desire.

As previously reported, the commissioner also selected a winner for their city charter logo contest. To see the logo contest finalists, see story below.