Single-member district proposal dies after county board deadlocks
A proposed charter amendment that would have changed the way Lee County commissioners are elected died on the table Tuesday evening in a tied vote.
The Lee County Commission deadlocked on putting the proposed amendment on the November ballot with a 2-2 vote. Commissioners Brian Bigelow and Frank Mann were in favor of letting the voters decide whether Lee County would change to single-member districts, while Commissioners Tammy Hall and Ray Judah cast the dissenting votes.
Commissioners are currently elected through a partisan election on a countywide basis. Under the killed amendment, commissioners would have been nominated and elected only by the voters living within their district. If the amendment had garnered enough voter support on the ballot, the change would have gone into effect in 2012.
About 40 people spoke during public comment at Tuesday’s special hearing, and even more were in attendance. Some wore sticker name tags with the letters “SMD,” giving commissioners a sign of their support of the amendment and single-member districting.
Ray Rodrigues, chairman of the Coalition For Common Sense Government and vice chair of the Lee County Republican Executive Committee, spoke in favor of putting the proposed amendment on the ballot. The coalition is comprised of members of a former Lee charter review committee who came together to get the amendment on the ballot.
“There is broad-based community support to put this on the ballot,” Rodrigues said.
Many who spoke only asked that commissioners let voters make the final decision.
“Are the four of you going to make that decision or are you going to let the voters make that decision?” Cape Coral resident John Traube asked.
“Let the voters make that decision,” he said. “Allow democracy to work.”
“It’s the voters’ right to have the opportunity to vote on it,” another man said.
Those who spoke out Tuesday against putting the proposed amendment on the November ballot voiced strong opposition to single-member districting as a whole.
“Why would I want to give up my right to vote for all the Lee County commissioners?” asked Judy O’Donnell. “I do not want two be limited to only voting for one.”
Another opponent argued that is would be “insane for anyone to give up their right to vote” for each Lee County Commissioner, calling the current at-large voting system a way of self-governance.
“How can you have that if you can only vote for one-fifth of the people who can tax you?” he asked.
After an hour and a half of public comment, commissioners discussed the proposed amendment. Judah, an opponent of single-member districts since taking office in 1988, said he could not vote in favor of the amendment because single-member districts are not representative of the community as a whole.
“I just cannot in good conscious support reducing the voting rights of citizens,” he said.
Judah added that the issue of single-member districts was vetted and rejected by the charter review committee. The charter committee did not reach the two-thirds majority needed — 10 out of 15 — to recommend single-member districting to the commission.
Hall cast a dissenting vote because of how the amendment came before the board.
“I have a problem with the process we’re using to put this on the ballot,” she said.
According to Hall, Commissioner Bob Janes gave new life to the issue after voting against it because he had made a campaign promise to bring it back to the table.
“It did not pass,” she said, referring to the lack of votes within the charter review committee. “It did not cut the mustard. It failed.”
Mann stated that he could argue the validity of either side of the issue, but wanted the proposed amendment put on the ballot so that the voters would make the final decision.
“I support putting it on the ballot for the citizens to decide,” he said.
Only the commissioners who voted down the proposed amendment, Hall and Judah, can bring single-member districting back up before the board for reconsideration. The new commissioner, once appointed by Gov. Charlie Crist to replace Janes, who recently died while in office, also will have the power to do so.
Also during public comment, some residents brought up the idea of expanding the existing five-member board to create a hybrid model. They proposed a seven-member commission consisting of four single-member district seats and three at-large district seats, or five single-member district seats and two at-large district seats.
“It seems to me some comprised model should be adopted,” one man said.
Some on the commission appeared open to the idea. Mann explained that when the current model was put in place, Lee County had a population of 10,000 compared to the nearly 600,000 people now living in the county.
“Democracy almost demands we extend this beyond the five today,” he said.
“I think a hybrid would work,” Mann added. “My first wish would be to find that.”
Single-member district proposal dies after county board deadlocks
A proposed charter amendment that would have changed the way Lee County commissioners are elected died on the table Tuesday evening in a tied vote.
The Lee County Commission deadlocked on putting the proposed amendment on the November ballot with a 2-2 vote. Commissioners Brian Bigelow and Frank Mann were in favor of letting the voters decide whether Lee County would change to single-member districts, while Commissioners Tammy Hall and Ray Judah cast the dissenting votes.
Commissioners are currently elected through a partisan election on a countywide basis. Under the killed amendment, commissioners would have been nominated and elected only by the voters living within their district. If the amendment had garnered enough voter support on the ballot, the change would have gone into effect in 2012.
About 40 people spoke during public comment at Tuesday’s special hearing, and even more were in attendance. Some wore sticker name tags with the letters “SMD,” giving commissioners a sign of their support of the amendment and single-member districting.
Ray Rodrigues, chairman of the Coalition For Common Sense Government and vice chair of the Lee County Republican Executive Committee, spoke in favor of putting the proposed amendment on the ballot. The coalition is comprised of members of a former Lee charter review committee who came together to get the amendment on the ballot.
“There is broad-based community support to put this on the ballot,” Rodrigues said.
Many who spoke only asked that commissioners let voters make the final decision.
“Are the four of you going to make that decision or are you going to let the voters make that decision?” Cape Coral resident John Traube asked.
“Let the voters make that decision,” he said. “Allow democracy to work.”
“It’s the voters’ right to have the opportunity to vote on it,” another man said.
Those who spoke out Tuesday against putting the proposed amendment on the November ballot voiced strong opposition to single-member districting as a whole.
“Why would I want to give up my right to vote for all the Lee County commissioners?” asked Judy O’Donnell. “I do not want two be limited to only voting for one.”
Another opponent argued that is would be “insane for anyone to give up their right to vote” for each Lee County Commissioner, calling the current at-large voting system a way of self-governance.
“How can you have that if you can only vote for one-fifth of the people who can tax you?” he asked.
After an hour and a half of public comment, commissioners discussed the proposed amendment. Judah, an opponent of single-member districts since taking office in 1988, said he could not vote in favor of the amendment because single-member districts are not representative of the community as a whole.
“I just cannot in good conscious support reducing the voting rights of citizens,” he said.
Judah added that the issue of single-member districts was vetted and rejected by the charter review committee. The charter committee did not reach the two-thirds majority needed — 10 out of 15 — to recommend single-member districting to the commission.
Hall cast a dissenting vote because of how the amendment came before the board.
“I have a problem with the process we’re using to put this on the ballot,” she said.
According to Hall, Commissioner Bob Janes gave new life to the issue after voting against it because he had made a campaign promise to bring it back to the table.
“It did not pass,” she said, referring to the lack of votes within the charter review committee. “It did not cut the mustard. It failed.”
Mann stated that he could argue the validity of either side of the issue, but wanted the proposed amendment put on the ballot so that the voters would make the final decision.
“I support putting it on the ballot for the citizens to decide,” he said.
Only the commissioners who voted down the proposed amendment, Hall and Judah, can bring single-member districting back up before the board for reconsideration. The new commissioner, once appointed by Gov. Charlie Crist to replace Janes, who recently died while in office, also will have the power to do so.
Also during public comment, some residents brought up the idea of expanding the existing five-member board to create a hybrid model. They proposed a seven-member commission consisting of four single-member district seats and three at-large district seats, or five single-member district seats and two at-large district seats.
“It seems to me some comprised model should be adopted,” one man said.
Some on the commission appeared open to the idea. Mann explained that when the current model was put in place, Lee County had a population of 10,000 compared to the nearly 600,000 people now living in the county.
“Democracy almost demands we extend this beyond the five today,” he said.
“I think a hybrid would work,” Mann added. “My first wish would be to find that.”
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