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Petition evokes an old concern
Some fear return to Lexington's at-large system
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Published: June 27, 2009
LEXINGTON - It wasn't until 1987 that the first black -- the Rev. Arnetta Beverly --was elected to the Lexington City Council. And that was only after the NAACP filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Lexington, prompting city officials to switch from their at-large system of representation to a ward system.
Since then, six more blacks from two predominantly black wards have been elected to the Lexington City Council. But supporters of the current ward system fear that minority representation would be wiped out if annexation opponents are successful in getting the city to return to an at-large system.
"The city has made great strides that some great people helped bring about," Mike Hooper, a former chairman of the city's Human Relations Commission, said at a city-council meeting Monday. "The return to an at-large system would turn the clock back on equal representation."
The Lexington council has approved a resolution supporting the current ward system and is opposing a petition that is being circulated by annexation opponents to force a referendum on the issue.
Members of the Citizens Against Forced Annexation have been circulating a petition since October to revert to an at-large system. The group needs 1,020 signatures from registered city voters to force a referendum on scuttling the current ward system. The group has gotten about 2,000 signatures, said Mike Bralkowski, the president of the group.
The group is hoping to get the referendum on the ballot in the fall so that city residents could vote on whether to get rid of the ward system and elect city council members at-large.
"You get a better city government when officials are elected every two years and are at-large," Bralkowski said. "You get better candidates."
Under the current system, the city is divided into six wards, two of which are predominantly black. Two seats are at-large. All council seats are for staggered four-year terms. The mayor is elected every two years.
Currently, two of the members of the Lexington City Council -- Louise Miller and Tonya Lanier -- are black.
City officials and supporters of the ward system say that blacks would have a hard time being elected in an at-large system. According to a memo that city officials wrote to city council, 62 percent of the voters in Lexington are white and 34 percent are black.
Bralkowski disputed that.
"We feel that Lexington may have its first African-American mayor (in an at-large system)," he said. "We don't have a candidate in mind, but we're working on that."
Citizens Against Forced Annexation began circulating the petition soon after Lexington City Council approved plans to annex nearly 2,000 county residents last year. The group filed a lawsuit against the city, which is still pending.
The Rev. Keith Curry, the pastor of Old Smith Grove Baptist Church and the president of the Lexington chapter of the NAACP, said he would like to see a day when the ward system is not needed. "That time is not now," he said.
Other supporters said that they have seen minority representation grow not just on the city council but also on other boards and commissions.
Bralkowski said he thinks that even more minorities would be elected under an at-large system. "They're always relegated to two wards," he said.
■ Michael Hewlett can be reached at 727-7326 or at mhewlett@wsjournal.com.
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