There could be more seats on Longview’s village council and residents could get a chance to pick their mayor.
Two open houses have been held over the past five weeks to collect residents’ thoughts on whether Village council should remain at its existing three representatives or add two more, and whether the mayor should continue to be appointed by council or be elected by citizens.
“It was all over the board at the first meeting,” said Longview Mayor Kathie Wight. “Some people just wanted to leave it the same and didn’t see the point.”
Wight said the first public open house was held Jan. 10 in the Longview Community Hall with about two dozen people in attendance.
“We thought that wasn’t very many,” she said. “It was a cold day and a few people were sick. We decided we would hold another one.”
The second event took place a month later on Feb. 7.
“It was another cold, snowy day,” Wight said. “I think there was five there who didn’t come to the first one.”
Council members recorded the preferences of those in attendance and will take them into consideration when making a decision on whether or not to make changes, likely at the next council meeting on Jan. 21, Wight said.
Nearing the end of one term on council, Wight said she doesn’t have an opinion on whether or not the village would benefit from an increase in councilors.
“I honestly don’t know whether that would be good or not,” she said. “I have no experience with five so I don’t know what the difference would be.”
The idea of increasing council representation was initially brought to Coun. Carole MacLeod by some residents last year.
“(MacLeod) brought it up a couple of times in just regular talks,” said Wight. “Eventually, we decided we would follow through with what needed to be done to investigate this.”
MacLeod said the topic was coming up more frequently in discussions with residents before council decided put the idea forward at an open house.
“I think the majority of the ones that we had at the open house wanted to keep things as is,” she said. “I think people are pretty happy with the way it is.”
If council does decide to increase its representation to five councilors, MacLeod said it could cost the Village $3,000 more annually for training, workshops and meetings and the approximately one dozen committees will be spread out over five people rather than three.
MacLeod, who has served on council for six years, said she feels council is working well with its existing three members.
Whether Longview’s mayor should continue to be appointed by council and rotated between the three councilors or be voted by the public will also come to the table, she said.
“There was definitely some people who had a voice on the mayor being elected and have somebody run for the mayor’s chair,” she said.
MacLeod said Village council will need to decide before the end of April to meet the time constraints required to make changes to council for this fall’s municipal election.
Longview residents who were unable to attend the open houses and want to share their opinions are encouraged to speak with a member of council before Feb. 21, MacLeod said.
