Bill Passes Senate (Manchester Times 3-2-11)

Bill to change elections passes House, Senate

Manchester Times 3/2/2011 11:10:25 AM

Legislation passed the Tennessee State House of Representatives and the State Senate allowing for a change in the Manchester city election cycle.

On Feb. 24, bill hb0332 passed the state house with a vote of 97-0 and revises Manchester charter to have elections for the legislative body and school board coincide with general August election and declares a vacancy in the office of alderman when the person qualifies as a candidate for election to the office of mayor.

The bill passed the senate with a vote of 31-0 Monday evening.

The bill will need to be signed by Governor Bill Haslam and will require one more vote from the board of mayor and aldermen before being finalized.

"This came about for the purpose of saving money for the city," said Manchester Mayor Betty Superstein. "If we can get it passed, according to figures from the finance director and Connie Casteel at the election commission, it will save us approximately $18,000 this year."

The proposed resolution would extend Superstein and aldermen Donnie Thomas and Roxanne Patton's terms from 2011 until 2012 – when they would run for re-election with aldermen Ryan French and Gene Holmes. The top three-out-of-four vote-getters in the 2012 aldermanic election would serve four-year terms with the low vote-getter serving only a two-year term.

Aldermen Donny Parsley and Lonnie Norman would see their terms extended from 2013 to 2014, when their seats would be up at the same time as the lowest vote-getter from the 2012 election.

The changes would extend aldermanic terms to four-year terms instead of the current three-year terms. The mayor position is currently a four-year term.

French spoke out against the change, mainly the extension of terms.

"It is unfortunate that my colleagues have no more respect for the democratic spirit, our constituents for that matter, by supporting this legislation," French stated.

"In a year in which some $3 million have been spent on vanity projects, pet projects and unbid contracts, our administration has now decided to mislead the public by telling known untruths about the financial status of this bill, all the while hiding behind these false numbers to pass a bill that dances on the principals of our constitutional obligations. It disgusts me to see ones political agenda take precedence over the people we serve."