Kelso drops ward system for council members

A city proposition to remove the “district” requirements for council candidates and return all seven council seats to “at-large” positions passed Tuesday with 55.4 percent of the votes.

For the past decade, four of the council seats have required the members to live in the geographic districts they represent — North, South, East and West Kelso. The districts overwhelmingly passed in a ballot measure 10 years ago to ensure all areas of Kelso were represented on the council.

City officials, however, have said that requirement makes it difficult to find candidates for districts with smaller populations, such as West Kelso. Proposition One eliminated the requirement, allowing any citizen of the city interested in becoming a council member to run for any seat. Council members have said lifting the restriction would provide a larger and better pool of candidates to run.

The city put forth a total of four ballot measures to the voters to change the charter, some meant as cleanup measures to avoid overlap with the state law.

More than 68 percent of residents also supported Proposition Two, which specifies that council members lose their seats if they miss six regular meetings in a year, providing leeway for those who miss special meetings.

The other two propositions were meant as housecleaning to avoid repetition with state law, council members and staff had said when they passed the measures at a July meeting.

Voters supported Proposition Three, which eliminated the part of the charter that specified the city manager’s appointment, removal, powers and duties. Employment contracts and state law still provide requirements for the position.

Proposition Four also passed by 56.6 percent, eliminating language in the charter that overlapped with state law.