It has been six months since all seven City Council seats were filled. That ends Tuesday -- probably. Using paper ballots, Council members will choose between five District 1 candidates. On the list are Eugene Anderson, Treatha Brown-Foster, Michael Kinard, George Rogers and Lavonta Williams. First one to get a majority (four votes) wins.
City Council members have already privately held interviews with each of the candidates. At the Council meeting Tuesday, people will see only short monologues from the candidates before the voting begins. But this event might get pushed back a little so that Mayor Carl Brewer can zip over the Center for Health and Wellness to welcome talk show host Montel Williams. (See The Eagle's story about Williams' visit.) Brewer said several times Friday that the District 1 seat is his top priority despite the hoopla with Montel.
The new District 1 member, who will be sworn in a week later, will soon get thrown into the debate over luring a citywide wireless Internet provider to the city. Tuesday, the Council will vote on whether to invite the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to conduct an evaluation of the request for proposals the city let months ago, which only drew five proposals. The Council's poised to approve that. What will follow is meeting of the Knight Foundation's Jorge Martinez, City Council, Sedgwick County Commissioners and the Wichita School Board. Each government entity would be an anchor customer of the wireless company.
See more on the Knight Foundation's role in wireless.
For more, see a PDF of Tuesday's City Council agenda reports.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
New District 1 Council member, wireless Internet and Montel
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9 comments:
LaVonta Williams is the clear choice.
"Using paper ballots..." I hope this vote will not be by secret ballot. That would violate the Kansas Open Meetings Act.
The ballot will be open and we'll report how each council member votes.
I noticed from the news reports that the paper ballots were not revealed as to who voted for Williams and who voted for Brown-Foster.
SHAME ON THE COUNCIL!
Well, we thought we'd get the ballots. But City Attorney Gary Rebenstorf clarified that the ballots will only be public record after a new member is approved by a majority of the council (four members). If the we have a new member next Tuesday, we'll report how each member voted.
In other words, they maintain it won't become public record until they "close" the vote with a result. So they don't have to say who's actually voting for what until the shouting is over.
Treatha Brown-Foster is the best qualified.
La Vonta Williams is by far the best qualified.
Williams by far. She doesn't carry the baggage of the religious right like Brown-Foster does.
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