Iola voters will decide on Nov. 2 whether a charter ordinance providing for a five-member city commission will become law. Yes or No. If the ordinance is rejected by the voters, Iola will have a nine-member council by default.
This is what the second question on the ballot means. But this is the way it appears on the ballot:
“Shall Charter Ordinance No. 17 entitled: A Charter Ordinance of the City of Iola exempting the City of Iola, Kansas, from the provisions of KSA 14-310 inclusive, and providing substitute and additional provisions on the same subject relating to a commission form of government take effect? Yes or No.”
For Iolans who don’t have a perfect and unfailing photographic memory, this may as well be written in ancient Sanscrit.
Why wouldn’t the law allow the question on the ballot to be written as in the first sentence above? Why on earth must the question refer to an ordinance passed months ago. Why, if reference to that ordinance must be made, weren’t the key provisions of that ordinance repeated on the ballot so that voters would have a clue?
There really are no acceptable answers to these questions. If the law truly does prohibit units of government from phrasing questions on the ballot so that they can be understood by any literate voter without reference to information not available in the voting booth, then they should be changed.
To get back to the question: in response to a referendum, the Iola City Commission passed an ordinance providing for a five-person city commission. Four of the commissioners would represent wards and a mayor would be elected at large. The ordinance was challenged by petition, forcing another referendum. The voters will therefore decide on Nov. 2 whether it will take effect. If it fails, a nine-member council will be created under an old law.
A volunteer group of Iolans met this spring and summer at the behest of the city commission to recommend the most efficient number of commissioners. A plurality recommended a five-person commission, one of which would be a voting mayor.
As a member of that group, I consulted Kansas League of Municipalities data to see how other cities in Iola’s population bracket were governing themselves. That research showed a preference for five-person commissions with either an administrator or a city manager.
That’s what Iola will get by voting yes on Nov. 2 and approving the charter ordinance that the city commissioners passed.
Yes is the word of the day. Yes, for a new hospital. Yes for a five-person commission for a strong Iola. And YES! for more clearly written questions on ballots.
— Emerson Lynn, jr.
