{"id":863,"date":"2010-08-12T09:23:48","date_gmt":"2010-08-12T13:23:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.citizennetmom.com\/?p=863"},"modified":"2010-08-12T09:23:48","modified_gmt":"2010-08-12T13:23:48","slug":"charter-changes-emerge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.citizennetmom.com\/?p=863","title":{"rendered":"Charter Changes Emerge"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Nov. 2, along with selecting a Governor, a new Congressman, and our State Rep. and State Senator, Oak Ridgers will approve or reject three questions on changes to the City Charter<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The full list of proposed changes<\/a> has been transmitted to City Council, which will meet on Aug. 23 to formally receive them and request that the Election Commissions of both Roane and Anderson Counties place them on the November ballot.<\/p>\n

The most substantial change to most people would be moving the city elections to November of even years (to coincide with State and Federal general elections), rather than the June of odd years pattern we’ve followed for a long time.\u00c2\u00a0 The argument for the current method (June of odd years) is that it keeps the focus strictly on city issues; the argument for moving it to November of even years is that it would dramatically improve voter turnout — both because people tend to put forth more effort to vote in these larger elections, and because it’s not at a time when people are typically on vacation.<\/p>\n

The second question changes the residency requirement to run for local office from six months to one year.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s not a huge change, but a sensible one, in my opinion.<\/p>\n

The third question is a series of relatively minor changes, including<\/p>\n