The public will get a chance to voice their opinion to the Jefferson City Council later this month about the possibility of eliminating election wards.

City Administrator Mike Palmer says the City Council at their meeting on Tuesday discussed the topic, but felt that they needed public input before making a decision. He explains why the Council considered the idea of making all City Council seats at-large.

“The feedback we’ve gotten over the years is that people would like to run for office, but because they’re in a ward, they may either number one they don’t want to run against the incumbent. They like that person and so they don’t want to run against them. A lot of people would maybe like to run, but they just can’t because it’s limited.”

A public hearing is scheduled for August 23rd during the regular City Council meeting. Palmer talks about the options that the Council will have following the hearing.

“If they elected to eliminate the wards, it would take a change of ordinance. So it would be like any other ordinance, there would be three readings. If the feedback is just to leave it as it is, then we’re done at that point.”

One concern that was brought up by Council member Larry Teeples was if they eliminated the wards, there might be potential for all of the Council members to come from the same neighborhood and not spread it out.

Palmer encourages those interested in the topic to attend the next Council meeting to voice their opinion.