The Madison Common Council discussed issues surrounding the redistricting and reapportionment process of city districts Monday.
Issues discussed included changing the position of alder to a full-time position and the number of alders in the city.
Council President Ald. Mark Clear, District 19, said he thinks the workload is currently too heavy for alders and something needs to be changed.
""The position of alder as we know it today is unsustainable,"" Clear said. ""That's because of the workload and the complexity of our city today. That dis-serves the public because that makes it difficult to run for and hold this office.""
Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said he did not feel constituents would not support such a council.
""The bottom line is that our community would not support ‘a full-time council,'"" Verveer said.
Ald. Tim Bruer, District 14, who has gone through redistricting twice before, said he felt the number of alders should remain near 20 as it is now, and most other alders agreed. He talked about when it changed to 20 members in 1990 and said the arguments being made at Monday's meeting were similar to those made in that year.
However, Ald. Bridget Maniaci, District 2, thought a lower number would be acceptable.
""If you keep the numbers the same, all of our districts are going to shrink downtown geography-wise,"" Maniaci said. ""If you bring down the council number a little bit, that will probably help with the downtown.""
The council settled on using 20 as a base for now, but did not commit to 20 as a final number.
Jeff Russell, of Russell Consulting, Inc., facilitated the discussion and had the alders break into groups to discuss the governing principles of the council as well as the council structure.
Ald. Steve King, District 7, said he hopes the ideas and final proposals from the council reflect what will be best for all of Madison, rather than each alder's own district.
""We should be talking about ... the city as a whole, and not our individual districts or our personal situations,"" King said.
