Tie Vote Kills Plan for 13 Councilors

Plans to explore the idea of a 13-member City Council died by the narrowest of margins late Monday.

The proposal failed on a tie vote after the eight councilors present couldn’t agree on whether to go forward with public hearings on the issue.

The council’s four Democrats favored the idea, and the four Republicans in attendance voted “no.” The council’s ninth member, Republican Don Harris, didn’t attend the meeting.

Under council rules, the lack of a majority means the bill failed.

City Councilor Isaac Benton, who sponsored the idea, said it made sense to let voters decide. He had hoped to hold hearings, then put a City Charter amendment on the Nov. 6 ballot.

Adding councilors would make City Hall more responsive to residents, Benton said.

Albuquerque’s “population has more than doubled since ‘74, when we enacted the current form of government,” he said.

Benton’s proposal came after the council’s Republican majority adopted a redistricting plan that eliminates his Downtown-based district and creates a new open seat on the Southwest Mesa. Benton, a Democrat, will have to step down when a new councilor from that area is elected in the 2013 municipal election.

Councilor Dan Lewis, Republican, said it wouldn’t be right to start a new redistricting process. The map approved earlier this year was the result of more than a year’s worth of meetings and work, he said.

To get a proposal on the Novemember ballot, the council would have little time to craft the proposed charter amendment and new districts, opponents said. The deadline for adding items to the ballot is Sept. 11.

“To just do this in a few short months, I don’t still think it’s honoring what we’ve been through,” Lewis said.

Joining Lewis against the proposal were Republicans Trudy Jones, Michael Cook and Brad Winter. In favor were Democrats Benton, Debbie O’Malley, Rey Garduño and Ken Sanchez.

About a half dozen neighborhood leaders spoke in favor of the idea. Benton and other supporters said the council’s redistricting process had packed too many historic, minority neighborhoods into one district. O’Malley’s central-city district, for example, now covers the North Valley, Downtown, Barelas, South Broadway and some of the university area.

Those areas used to be divided between Benton and O’Malley.

Council Democrats also pointed out repeatedly that it was one of their own who had a district eliminated, not any of the Republicans.

Lewis, meanwhile, said the winning map matched almost exactly one of the recommendations of the independent consultant who helped draw district boundaries.

“I think it’s very hard to argue we made the wrong decision,” Lewis said.

Other opponents said adding four members to the council would make the meetings much more difficult to manage and that there’s little public appetite for the idea.