Reject the proposal to reduce the city council’s size, that is. The voters rejected this proposal in 2018, but it’s back. The voters should reject it once again.
Stephenville’s voters are being asked to pass Proposition 1, a proposal to amend Stephenville’s charter to reduce the size of the city council from 9 to 7. Passage of this proposal may undermine democratic government in Stephenville. Those who want more democratic government rather than less should vote AGAINST it.
Proposition 1 is being pushed by something called Citizens for Limited and Effective Government, which says that eliminating two seats on the city council will somehow make our government, well, more limited and effective. How this will be done was not made clear in the latest mailing on the subject. But previous discussions of the issue offer some clue as to the reasoning behind this proposal.
For example, when this proposal was first presented to the city council while I was still on it, its advocates said we should reduce the size of our city council to make it more like those of other cities with populations similar to ours and which normally had seven-member city councils. It was also argued that a seven-member city council would be more manageable than a nine-member council.
I considered those arguments meaningless. Stephenville is under no obligation to reduce its council’s size simply to be like other cities. Besides, whether a city council or any other governing board can operate effectively depends more on the temperament and behavior of its members than on its size. A nine-member council can operate perfectly well if its members believe in good manners, common courtesy, and the need to be able to disagree with civility and without being disagreeable. A smaller city council would be far less effective if one or more of its members was a bully, or drama queen, or anyone who believes any disagreement with his or her views is a personal insult or a sign of disloyalty or dishonesty. In fact, the smaller the group, the more vulnerable it will be to members who lack the temperament to discuss and sometimes disagree while maintaining basic civility.
It’s also been argued that reducing city council size will make city council elections more competitive as more people vie for fewer seats, and that the winners of more competitive elections will be more diligent in serving the public. But I served with four mayors and several dozen different council members in the fourteen years I served on the city council, and I also worked for city councils in two other cities before coming to Stephenville. I saw differences among members in terms of temperament, ability, grasp of the issues, and governing philosophy. But every member of every city council on which I served or for which I worked had an uncompromising determination to pursue the best interests of his or her city and its inhabitants. Whether a council member was elected over opposition or without opposition made no difference. Besides, a council member elected without opposition for one term could draw an opponent when up for re-election. That’s as good a reason as any to serve the public to the best of one’s ability.
Whatever the virtues of reducing council size, it should be remembered that to do so reduces the right of the voters to select members of the council. Moreover, it may diminish the quality of decision making of which the city council is capable. A nine-member city council may have a greater diversity of opinions offered by its members, producing a wider range of options presented for problem solving. Moreover, reducing the size of the council may increase the burden on each remaining council member to study the issues. If the size of the council is reduced while its committee structure is maintained, council members may have to serve on more committees established to study the issues. Or they may have to rely more on the city manager and other unelected officials for guidance. More reliance on unelected officials is not a prescription for more democracy.
Last week I advocated passage of Proposition 2, which increased the number of consecutive terms a council member could serve from two to three. I argued that to do so would make the government more democratic because it would expand the right of voters to select their council members and increase the ability of council members to acquire the knowledge and expertise necessary for democratic decision making. But the passage of Proposition 1 would reduce democracy by reducing the right of the voters to select council members and increasing the burden of policy analysis and decision making by reducing the number of democratically elected decision makers. As the city grows the number of democratically elected officials should not shrink. For these reasons, we should do what the voters did in 2018 when they last voted on this issue. They voted to reject it. Let’s do it again. Let’s reject this proposition and hope we won’t be confronted with it again in another five years.
Malcolm L. Cross has lived in Stephenville and taught politics and government at Tarleton from 1987 until 2023. His political and civic activities include service on the Stephenville City Council (2000-2014) and on the Erath County Republican Executive Committee (1990 to the present). He was Mayor Pro Tem of Stephenville from 2008 to 2014. He is a member of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church and the Stephenville Rotary Club and does volunteer work for the Boy Scouts of America. Views expressed in this column are his and do not reflect those of The Flash as a whole.
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