The Bonney Lake City Council Tuesday night tabled to next week’s workshop meeting further discussion of moving the city away from a ward-representation system.

Because the issue was tabled, there was no discussion before the vote as per parliamentary rules.
However, during the public comment portion of the meeting, Former Councilmember Phil DeLeo spoke in opposition to the measure.

“I think it does away with the very basis of our representative government,” DeLeo said.

When he served on the council, DeLeo said 90 percent of the calls he received came from within his ward.

“They knew that I lived there and had the same concerns they had,” he said of the callers.

Councilmembers, including Deputy Mayor Dan Swatman, a vocal proponent of the switch, have made the case that there is not enough diversity of neighborhoods or issues between neighborhoods to warrant separating councilmembers into wards.

Swatman has said that issues affecting one part of the city affect another and therefore all councilmembers should be at-large to allow the entire city to vote for their representation.

DeLeo disagreed, adding that though there are not ethnic differences in the wards, the geographic differences – such as lakes and the issues that come with living near them – prompt differing concerns which are most effectively represented by councilmembers who live in those neighborhoods.

The council seems poised to make the change to a fully at-large council in the near future as all of the councilmembers have expressed their support for the measure. Only Councilmember Dan Decker has raised a question and though he said he supports the change he believes such a change should go to a vote of the people.

The Bonney Lake city council will address the issue again during their workshop meeting at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.