Published: November 19, 2009 09:53 pm      

Princeton councilmember says officials shouldn’t serve wards they don’t reside in

PRINCETON — Whether a member of the Princeton City Council should continue serving if he or she moved outside his or her ward is an issue one member of the current city council wishes to address.

Instances in which a council member who was elected to represent a ward continued to serve after leaving it has happened in the past, said Councilperson Patricia Wilson, an at-large member.

The last time this situation occurred was approximately six years ago, she said.

“If a person in a ward should move out of their ward, then my feeling is they should have to resign and then someone from that ward would be appointed to represent the residents of that ward until the next election,” Wilson said. “If you had a legislator who represented Mercer County and they moved to Wyoming County or somewhere else, they would have to resign.”

“And then another thing. If a representative such as myself was to move out of my ward and I wanted to go back and vote, then my vote would be thrown out. How could you still represent the ward if you’re not living in that ward?” Wilson said.

Wilson said that Princeton City Attorney Paul Castle, upon direction from the city council’s Finance and Administration Committee, drafted an ordinance to change the policy. When she motioned during a council meeting Sept. 9 to begin the process of amending the city charter, it was not seconded.

At that time, Mayor Dewey Russell asked Castle if a council member moving from a ward violated city law, and it did not, Wilson said after referring to a transcript of the meeting.

Russell declined to comment Thursday and referred questions to the city attorney. Castle was not available Thursday.

Councilmember John Wilborn of Ward I said he did not see a problem with the charter as it is now. The issue of a council member leaving a ward does not happen often.

“Well, the council member was elected by the people and if he moves into another ward, he should be able to serve out that term. If people have a problem with it, it can be straightened out when the next election comes by,” Wilborn said.

A new member of the council said he planned to look at the city charter’s current wording.

“I’d have to go back and look at that because I’m kind of new on the council,” said Tim Ealy, who serves Ward IV. “It just seems like common sense if you would move out of a ward, you would have to resign. If I moved to Bluefield, how could I represent Ward IV? I couldn’t live in Ward IV and represent people in Ward II. You wouldn’t know what their needs are.”

— Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com