Council districts are questioned (12/22/07)

DUNKIRK - Questions about council district residency requirements have been reverberating here the last few weeks.

Questions about the residency of a current council member and one who will be sworn in soon are still unanswered.

During a Dunkirk City Council meeting last week, clerk-treasuer Jane Kesler raised a question about whether or not council member Connie Whetsel should resign from the city council, as she has moved to a new house on Broad Street.

Her new house is only a few blocks from her old one on Broad Street but in a different council district, Kesler said. Kesler asked aloud whether Whetsel could still legally vote as a member of the council.

Whetsel said at that meeting that she still owns her former home.

City attorney William Hinkle pointed out that Whetsel's term expires at the end of the year, as she did not seek re-election. Consequently, Hinkle said in a few days this will no longer be an issue.

The council will hold an end-of-the-year meeting on Friday.

Also at the recent council meeting, Dunkirk water department superintendent Dace Mumbower, a member of the audience at the time, said that he thinks all the city council members should be elected at-large, as Dunkirk is too small of a community to be split into districts or precincts.

Hinkle said that although the topic was raised at a council meeting by Kesler, no one asked him for "an official opinion."

To offer an opinion would require research, he said.

"I haven't had an opportunity to do research on that," Hinkle said.

However, that will not be the case for Raymond Pettus Sr., who won a seat on the Dunkirk City Council last November, although he reportedly is not a resident of the district from which he was elected.

Hinkle said that Pettus' right to be a council member could be challenged as soon as he is sworn into office. However, the attorney said that he has not researched this situation either. "It's unique," Hinkle said.

Pettus is evidently preparing to be sworn in, and then he'll be on the council until someone tells him otherwise, Hinkle said, adding: "I've never been involved in anything like this before, and I haven't had an opportunity to do any research on the matter."

Concerning what is required to change the city council system from one with districts to a totally at-large system, Hinkle said he would have to do some research on that matter, too, before issuing any opinions.[[In-content Ad]]