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Parent Article: At-Large Seats on Urbana's City Council: A Call for Independent Research |
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Hidden with code "Duplicate post" |
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Re: At-Large Seats on Urbana's City Council: A Call for Independent Research |
by Christopher Alix
alix (nospam) prairiecity.com (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
19 Aug 2004
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Disclaimer: I am actively involved in supporting the initiative to add two at-large seats to the Urbana City Council.
I put together the following document as a "fact sheet" to illustrate the wide variation in systems across the state. If anyone doing the kind of independent resarch that Mr. Kotheimer has suggested finds this useful as a starting point, have at it.
The original is a PDF, but hopefully will be legible here as plain text. Please feel free to e-mail errors, corrections, or additions. I suspect that there may be additional hybrid-Council cities that I missed, and some CIty Clerks have better memories than others. Good luck!
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The following is a survey of methods of Council election and form of government of the ten largest Cities in Illinois, as well as a noninclusive list of other Illinois Cities with hybrid Councils (Councils consisting of both members elected by ward or by district, and members elected at large). Information was collected in July and August, 2004 based on census data, City web sites, and telephone conversations with City Clerks.
Key:
City (2000 Population, Rank, % Growth 1990-2000)[ 1]
Council Composition excluding mayor (for hybrid Councils, year adopted)
W or D members elected by ward or district
AL members elected at-large
Form of Government[2]
Ten Largest Cites in Illinois
Of the ten largest Cities in Illinois, 4 elect a City Council entirely by ward or district, 3 elect the Council entirely at large, and 3 elect a hybrid Council. Cities are evenly split between Mayor-Council and Council-Manager systems.
Chicago (2,896,016; 1st; 4.0%)
50W
Mayor-Council system
Rockford (150,115; 2nd; 7.7%)
4W
Mayor-Council system
Aurora (142,990; 3rd; 43.6%)
10W + 2AL (1977)
Mayor-Council system
Naperville (128,358; 4th; 50.4%)
8AL
Council-Manager system
Peoria (112,936; 5th; -0.5%)
5D + 5AL (1953)
Council-Manager System
Springfield (111,445; 6th; 5.9%)
10W
Mayor-Council system
Joliet (106,221; 7th; 38.2%)
5D + 3AL (exact year unknown, prior to 1973)
Council-Manager System
Elgin (94,487; 8th; 22.7%)
5AL
Council-Manager system
Waukegan (87,901; 9th; 26.7%)
9W
Mayor-Council system
Decatur (81,860; 11th; -2.4%)[ 3]
6AL
Council-Manager system
Other Illinois Cities known to have Hybrid Councils
Champaign (67,518; 15th; 6.3%)
5D + 3AL (1972; previously 6 at-large)
Council-Manager system
Wheaton (55,416; 22nd; 7.7%)
4D + 2AL (1993; previously 5 at-large)
Council-Manager system
Moline (43,768; 21st; 1.3%)
7W + 1AL (1995)
Council-Administrator system (similar to Council-Manager)
Freeport (26,443; 76th; 2.3%)
7W + 1AL (2003; was 2 elected from each of 7 wards for a total of 14)
Mayor-Council system
Macomb (18,558; 122nd; -7.0%)[ 4]
5W + 2AL (2003)
Mayor-Council System
Sterling (15,451; 144th; 2.1%)
4W + 2AL (1979)
Council-Manager System
Notes
1: Based on 2000 census. Rank is among all municipalities (Cities, Towns and Villages).
2: Mayor-Council systems are “strong mayor” systems in which the Mayor holds executive authority. Department heads are hired by the Mayor, usually with Council confirmation. The Mayor does not vote on Council matters and has an overridable veto power. Council-Manager systems are “weak mayor” systems in which executive authority is vested in a professional City Manager hired by the Council. Department heads are hired by the City Manager. The mayor typically participates in Council business on a equal footing with other Council members (in some cases with special restrictions related to making and breaking ties) and has no veto power. These are general systems and specific laws and by-laws vary from City to City.
3: Cicero is the 10th largest muncipality in Illinois, but it is not a City. It is organized under state law as a Township run by a Town President and a Board of Trustees in lieu of a Mayor and a City Council.
4: A significant undercount of Western Illinois University students in the 2000 census triggered a statutory loss of two wards in the City of Macomb. Two at-large seats were added by referendum in order to maintain a 7-member council. One seat was won by an alderman from one of the old wards and the other by a new candidate. A special census in 2003 corrected the population to 20,004. (Source: Macomb City Clerk, 8/2004).
Comments
By way of comparison, Urbana had a 2000 population of 36,395, ranking it 47th among municipalities in Illinois, and grew 0.1% from 1990 to 2000. If the 2000 populations of Urbana, Champaign and Savoy were combined, the resulting “City” would have ranked 7th in population among all muncipalities in Illinois. |
