Get ready for "Survivor," Round Two. Location: the Durham City Council.
Only this time, the prize is not $1 million. Instead, these survivors will be rewarded with one of the soon-to-be-scarce seats on the new, smaller city council next fall.
At a meeting Monday night, the council voted 8-4 to accept Mayor Nick Tennyson's proposal that the council's procedures committee, made up of six council members and the mayor, be in charge of gathering information on how to structure the new council.
In December 1998, voters decided to reduce the number of seats on the city council from 13 to seven. The reduction will take place in the November 2001 elections, when the current members' terms expire.
Some council members complained that using a subcommittee for further research on reduction would leave out other members not on the committee. In response, Tennyson emphasized that anyone could attend the meetings of the committee and that all binding votes would be made by the whole council.
Council member Mary Jacobs agreed. "It's just fact-finding," said Jacobs, chair of the procedures committee.
Instead of Tennyson's plan, council member Brenda Burnette proposed that the entire council be involved in structuring the new council and that a separate meeting be held to determine how to split up the process among members. The proposal failed 3-9.
Mayor Pro Tem Howard Clement proposed that the council members leave the responsibility to citizens who volunteered. "Someone's going to think that whatever we [as council members who might run for re-election] do smacks of impropriety."
Clement's proposal also failed, since no one agreed to second it.
The cut in the number of seats has the potential to spark even more tension among the members of the council who decide to run again next year. Since there will likely be more incumbents running than positions available, competition may erupt from what used to be a generally dormant political volcano.
"It's going to be a great dogfight," said council member Dan Hill, who has not yet decided whether he will seek re-election.
Council member Floyd McKissick, on the other hand, expects to run again and intends to step up his campaign effort to match the increased level of competition.
"We'll see how events unfold as people decide whether or not to run," he said, adding that he has not yet witnessed an increase in tension. "There may be more political jockeying."
Council member Brenda Burnette, who opposed the reduction in seats, has decided not to run for another term. "I'm getting frustrated with local politics," she said. "Things tend to get petty."
Currently, the council is divided into six ward seats and six at-large seats, with the mayor in the thirteenth position. After the reduction, the number of ward seats and at-large seats will be cut in half. Some council members say there are few advantages to the change.
"At a time when the city is growing in size and diversity, it's somewhat paradoxical that we're losing half of the representatives," McKissick said.
Also, he said, the job of the council member will become more difficult, as there will be half as many people to do the same amount of work. "How much more can people reasonably be expected to handle?"
Hill, on the other hand, believes a smaller council will be able to work more effectively. "It's an efficiency issue," he said. "Right now, we've got 13 different people that feel they have to have a say in every issue."
Matt Atwood contributed to this story.
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