KEEP ELECTING MAYOR IF YOU PUT IN WARDS, CITY TOLD

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, January 9, 1992                   TAG: 9201090582
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By JOEL TURNER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
KEEP ELECTING MAYOR IF YOU PUT IN WARDS, CITY TOLD
Roanoke ought to keep choosing its mayor by an at-large election system, even if it switches to a ward or modified ward plan for electing other City Council members, a University of Virginia professor said Wednesday.
"I would encourage you to keep electing a mayor - and possibly more [council members] - by the at-large method," said Timothy O'Rourke, a professor at UVa's Center for Public Service.
Speaking to a citizens' task force on alternative election systems for Roanoke, O'Rourke said most cities that select all council members by wards "seem to be adrift" without a leader.
He cited the political discord in recent years on Richmond City Council, which is chosen entirely by wards. In Richmond, the council chooses one of its members to be mayor.
O'Rourke has been involved with studies in Charlottesville, Norfolk, Virginia Beach and other cities where changes have either been considered or made in election systems in recent years.
Charlottesville decided to keep its at-large system after voters rejected a proposal to switch to a mixed system with four council members chosen by wards and three members elected at-large.
Norfolk, which had an at-large system similar to Roanoke's, has switched to a plan with five wards and two superwards after a 10-year legal battle. The new plan will be used for the first time in the May council election.
Of 41 cities in Virginia, 30 use an at-large system, seven select council members by wards and four have a mixed system. Richmond and Petersburg are the largest cities with ward systems.
Buena Vista and Covington are the only two cities in Western Virginia with ward systems. Lynchburg is the largest municipality in the state with a mixed system (four council members elected by wards and three chosen at-large).
O'Rourke said development of the at-large election system, with relatively small city councils and professional city managers, was an outgrowth of a reform movement in municipal governments in the early 20th century.
The at-large system was designed to help eliminate corruption, inefficiency and ward politics that flourished in many cities in the late 19th century, he said. The reformers believed that cities could be run like businesses by professional administrators, free of political bosses, partisan politics and other alleged ills of ward systems, O'Rourke said.
Nationwide, 60 percent of all cities use at-large systems, 27 percent have mixed systems and 13 percent choose their council members by wards.
O'Rourke said that at-large systems have been the target of many lawsuits in recent years by blacks and other minorities who contend they are denied equal opportunity to win a city council seat.
The courts have ruled that at-large systems are illegal if they deny minorities equal opportunity for representation on governing bodies, he said.
Roanoke City Council has appointed the task force to make recommendations on a possible switch to a ward or mixed system. One option would be to recommend that the city's at-large system be retained. The study is expected to take six months.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB