Voters in Bonney Lake will most likely have a chance to vote on all council members by this fall’s election as the city moves away from the ward system.

There were no dissenters to the idea during a discussion at Tuesday’s workshop and an ordinance making all council seats at-large, as opposed to geographically-specific was moved ahead to next week’s council meeting.

Much of the discussion focused on the lack of ward- or neighborhood-specific issues in a city the size of Bonney Lake and the idea that because issues on one side of the city affect the other, all residents should vote for all council seats.

“It would be nice to have all the citizens vote on all the candidates,” Councilmember Jim Rackley said.

Rackley said the ward system was not logical in a city as small as Bonney Lake and added that he can walk from his house to the homes of two other councilmembers within 10 minutes.

“Why have it?” he asked of the wards. “I think the city would be better off without it.”

Deputy Mayor Dan Swatman, a leading proponent and official sponsor of the ordinance, also said he likes the ward system for larger geographical areas and said if the city had “hill people” and “valley people” within its boundaries, then both would want to ensure that their issues were heard on the council.

“I don’t think we have that kind of system in Bonney Lake,” he said.

Councilmember Donn Lewis agreed an at-large council was the right move and said now “is the right time to do it” because it would be a cost-saving measure by eliminating the staff time necessary to redraw the wards, especially with a potential annexation on the horizon.

Councilmember Mark Hamilton added that opening all seats on the council to any resident in the city could spur larger participation in government and lead to more candidates running for office.

Only councilman Dan Decker questioned the move.

Though he said he supported an at-large council, Decker said he thought such a change should be put before voters.

“That way we know what they want,” he said.

Decker also said he worried that some people may not be able to afford a city-wide campaign and worried it would dampen participation.

Swatman countered that at-large councilmember Randy McKibbin spent much less on his city-wide campaign than Swatman did on his ward campaign, adding that the cost of a campaign is more closely tied to the opponent than the ward.

Swatman also said such a change is the purview of the city council and that doing it now would make November’s election, in which four council seats will be contested, an all at-large race. He also said that waiting until after the election would seem too political.

Rackley agreed, adding that if voters did not approve of the change, they could vote in new councilmembers who support the ward system.

The council is expected to vote on the matter during their Feb. 22 meeting. Citizens will be given the opportunity to speak on the matter before a vote.