The Palm Springs City Council voted to move forward with district elections starting with the 2019 elections. The new rules will see five districts in the city elect a representative, with those reps then rotating who is the mayor. The council passed it Monday by a 3 to 2 vote – and you will never guess who was one of the two who voted against it.
J.R. Roberts and Mayor Buzzkill voted no on the measure. According to the Desert Sun, Roberts was fine with the rotating mayor thing, but voted against it because he believes that people might vote on what’s best for the neighborhoods rather than the city as a whole – which really sounds like the whole point of doing this thing, my dude.
As for the mayor, well…
Moon said he thought voters should have had a choice during the November election on whether the city should move to five districts with a rotating mayor, or four districts and an at-large mayor. With district elections, the mayoral position would rotate annually among council members.
“I think it would have been a really good measure of how the residents of Palm Springs felt,” he said.
And while voters probably don’t care which council member gets to hold the big scissors while cutting the ribbons at new stores, they will have a chance to decide if Mayor Buzzkill should even be on the council at all next year as his seat, along with Mayor pro tem Geoff Kors and Councilmember J.R. Roberts, will be for re-election, according to the city.
The seats of Councilmembers Lisa Middleton and Christy Holstege will move to districts when they are up for reelection in 2021.
With the new elections, voters in Districts 1, 2, and 3 will vote for a representative in 2019. Those in District 4 and 5 will vote in 2021.
Those residing in District 12 will be forced to fight in the 74th Annual Hunger Games.
