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ABQ City Council deferred "weak mayor" proposal to next meeting

If this proposal is approved by councilors on June 21st, it could possibly lead to the current government structure Albuquerque has had since 1974.
Gino Gutierrez
/
KSFR News
If this proposal is approved by councilors on June 21st, it could possibly lead to the current government structure Albuquerque has had since 1974.

Councilors Renee Grout and Louie Sanchez are co-sponsoring a proposed amendment that would give voters the opportunity to decide if they want to end the “strong mayor” form of government that Albuquerque has had since 1974.

Instead, the government structure would be converted into a “weak mayor” council-manager system that gives the City Council authority over a possible city manager, who would in turn oversee the city’s administration.

Councilors voted 5-4 on Monday to amend this measure as well, which adds the mayor in this governance structure as a voting member of the council, similar to the current process within the Santa Fe Governing Body.

This amendment could possibly mean 10 total voting members on the city’s council.

But one downside to the possible transition to this “weak mayor” system, according to UNM Professor Timothy B. Krebs, is less engagement from the public, due to their voices not having nearly the impact they currently have.

“The real cost though, switching to a council-manager system has to do with citizen engagement. Mayor-council cities have higher rates of participation than council-manager cities and the reason that is because when voters know that their choices directly lead to how the the administration functions, directly leads to the type of political leader they want at a particular moment in time, they’re more engaged in the process, more likely to turn out, more likely to be engaged.”

If this proposal does get approved by the council at the next meeting, it would then be filed with Bernalillo County by no later than August 29th in order to be on the Nov. 7th election ballot.

If the public votes in favor of the measure, this new form of government would go into effect after the next mayoral election in 2025.