Over the past six months, the mayor and some members of Beckley City Council have been hard at work figuring out how to change the city’s election process. After a failed attempt to extend their current term an additional year as well as overlooking an opportunity to save money by consolidating city elections with the state and county elections in November, they are still at it.
The first reading of an ordinance amending the City of Beckley’s Charter to “Eliminate Primary Elections” passed at Tuesday night’s Beckley Common Council meeting. The newspaper reports a vote of 6-0, however both Councilman Frank Williams (Ward 3) and Councilman At-Large Cedric Robertson noted that they opposed the ordinance.
The strongest opposition to the first proposed ordinance was against eliminating the city’s democratic primary. However, the new ordinance still eliminates primary elections. But it now includes a revision to the election cycle that would eventually lead to city elections being held with presidential elections.
The ordinance now moves to a public hearing, scheduled for the next common council meeting on Tuesday, June 8th at 7:30 pm. Just like we did the first time, this is again our opportunity to demonstrate to city leaders that we are paying attention. We must continue to take the initiative upon ourselves to take control of our city’s destiny.