Committee Of 9 May Decide Everett City Council District Ballot Measure

It likely won’t be the only City Council District measure on next fall’s ballot but it looks like the City of Everett proposal will come from a committee of nine.

Seven people each hand selected by a current City Council member, one member chosen by the Mayor and the ninth chosen by the other eight once the committee has been formed.

That’s the current idea being pitched in a draft memo by City Council member Paul Roberts. Roberts, chair of the City Council Government Committee outlined plans that may soon see council approval to get work underway on a city-proposed ballot measure.

Here’s the draft memo presented to the other City Council members last week…

Draft_Gen_Gov

Highlights include:

• The formation of a nine member committee.
• A deadline of May 2018 for the City Council to approve a measure to be put on the fall ballot.
• A decision on whether there should be at-large members included with specific council districts.
• The number of council districts that best serves the people of Everett.
• Selection of a city staffer to serve as a “District Master” to assist the committee and provide geographical and legal assistance.

During the recent campaign all of the candidates for both City Council and Mayor said they were for the idea of council districts to be put before voters. There was a wide variety of opinion on the best way to accomplish that feat. Again the memo is a draft and will need council approval to move forward in developing a ballot measure.

This year a group called Everett Districts Now tried to collect enough signatures to put a 5 district, 2 at-large plan before voters but were unable to gather enough signatures for that to happen. The group has pledged to continue the signature drive after the first of the year and get their measure on the fall 2018 ballot no matter what the City of Everett does.