State Sen. Trudy Wade filed a bill today that we all knew was coming — one that would reduce the number of Greensboro City Council seats and change the way members are elected.
Senate Bill 36 lays out a plan for council to drop from nine seats to eight, with all members elected from a district except for the mayor. There are currently five city council districts, three at-large seats and the mayor is elected at large. The bill calls for redistricting — something Wade is no stranger to — and for the elimination of any at-large races.
Under Wade’s bill, the mayor would have limited veto power that a 5-vote majority could overrule. The mayor wouldn’t be able to vote on most items (with exceptions for things such as zoning and firing the city manager) unless there was a tie. [Because there would be an odd number of other members of council, a tie wouldn’t exactly be common.]
Wade’s bill would also change term lengths, doubling them from two years to four. Wade, a Republican, previously served on Greensboro City Council before being elected to the General Assembly. She successfully pushed for a change in the Guilford County School Board elections that, among other things, made the races partisan.
[An earlier version of this post incorrectly stated how the mayor would be elected. We regret the error.]
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I lost complete faith and confidence in Trudy Wade. She’s nothing but a back stabbing, you-know-what! I am angry, disappointed, and dishearten by your proposal, and for whom she represents in the business community. She is making it seem, like she only represents the interest of those business leaders, and not the citizenry of Guilford County, and the City of Greensboro. If this bill passes. I will guarantee, that I will do everything I can, in my power to see that this woman is not elected, EVER, to represent our concerns.
Wade is moving us away from a democratic form of government by diminishing the power of each individual’s vote. It is also a naked power play to get more Republicans on Council which is supposed to be nonpartisan.
Trudy Wade is true to the tradition of moving to the state level and then screwing the city she came from, Greensboro. The state of NC has no dog in this fight. This is simply a huge ego running rampant. Makes me sick.