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Half of City Council has to give up their seat to run for mayor. This proposed charter amendment would change that.
Albuquerque City Councilor Klarissa Pe帽a listens to residents during a council meeting earlier this year.
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Charter chowder was the legislation du jour of Monday鈥檚 Albuquerque City Council meeting. After the legislative body had its say on four proposed charter amendments, two other ingredients were added to the mix.
Councilor Klarissa Pe帽a introduced two additional charter amendments, which were first heard by the City Council on Monday. If approved by the council, voters will have a chance to approve or reject the proposals.
The two new proposals have the same end: bringing city councilors into the same election cycle.
Currently, more than half of the councilors are up for reelection in the same year as the mayoral election. An individual can only run for one office.
Under one measure, odd-district councilors in 2025 would be elected to a two-year term, then a four-year term in 2027. Under the other, even-district councilors would, in 2027, be elected to a two-year term 鈥� so all the councilors would have to give up their seats to run for mayor. Only one proposal would be enacted.
鈥淚鈥檓 just trying to achieve some fairness with this,鈥� Pe帽a said.
Pe帽a said she has no preference which version of the charter changes advances. She said she is not aware of any odd-district councilors interested in running for mayor in 2025 or 2029.
The next mayoral election is in 2025.
Pe帽a said it could be beneficial for voter turnout to put all councilors on the ticket with the mayor.
鈥淥n the off years, we tend to garner more votes when we run with the mayor,鈥� Pe帽a said. 鈥淚 think this would really drive out voter participation.鈥�
Councilors serve four-year terms on a staggered basis. Seats for Districts 2, 4, 6 and 8 鈥� Joaqu铆n Baca, Brook Bassan, Nichole Rogers and Dan Champine 鈥� will be up for reelection in 2027.
That means the odd-numbered seats 鈥� 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 鈥� are up for reelection in 2025 and 2029. To run for mayor, Councilors Louie Sanchez, Klarissa Pe帽a, Dan Lewis, Tammy Fiebelkorn and Ren茅e Grout would have to surrender their council seats.
鈥淚f you鈥檙e an odd-numbered councilor 鈥� then you really have to decide if this is the end of the road for you,鈥� Pe帽a said. 鈥淪ome councilors don鈥檛 have to make those decisions.鈥�
First heard on Monday, the charter amendments will have to go through several rounds of public hearing before the City Council can take a vote. The proposals were fast-tracked in an effort to get them onto the ballot in November.
The next hearing will be at the Aug. 5 City Council meeting.
Charter review task force
Alongside the six-pack of charter amendments reviewed Monday was a proposal to form a charter review task force 鈥� a group that reviews the entire charter document.
But the City Council declined to form the group on a 6-3 vote. Councilors Tammy Fiebelkorn, Nichole Rogers and Joaqu铆n Baca voted in favor.
In 2009, a charter review task force released a report with about a dozen recommended changes, some just a line long and others spanning paragraphs. One recommendation was to determine councilor salary through an independent salary commission rather than setting the rate at one-tenth the salary of the mayor.
