Election rules questioned in Bertram council meeting

September 26, 2012, 7:00 am by Brenda Young

Community members had an opportunity to voice their opinions regarding the process of electing city officials during an open session at the Bertram council meeting last night. The decision to hold future elections with council members running at-large versus vying for specific place seats is undetermined.

The ordinance that outlines how officials are elected came under scrutiny, as city attorney Mike Guevara explained there are several city ordinances with the same number.

"Basically, there are a couple of issues. There were already two other Ordinance 122s, so it (the election ordinance) has been crossed out to become 128. The other issue is although it sets out five places, the ordinance doesn’t say in what order. It also states when the elections will be held, which is in contrast to state law. For housekeeping purposes, there are some things we need to do to clean things up,” Guevara said.

During open session, the council heard opinions from those in attendance with the majority favoring at-large elections where the winners are those with the highest number of votes. Mayor Winnette Morris said she favored allowing residents to vote for people rather than specific seats, and Mayor Pro Tem Dickie Allen supported the idea by saying it reduced the chances of having to hold run-off elections which would cost the city additional funds they could use to benefit the city in other ways.