Dear Editor,

As the Grand Junction City Council is currently discussing moving its elections from April to November, could this also be a good time to look at making our mayor an elected position?

Currently the general public does not directly elect the Grand Junction mayor or mayor pro-tem. The seven-person city council elects amongst themselves who will represent us all as the mayor and mayor pro-tem. There is no criteria to become mayor, it is simply a popularity contest. If you can get three other council members to vote for you: Congratulations, you get to be mayor.

So how can we change this so that all city residents have a say in who gets to be our mayor? It really is not that difficult to correct. Currently of our seven-member council five of them live in specific districts, and two of them are at-large. Each person serves a four-year term. Elections alternate every two years, so four people get elected one cycle and three two years later.

Keeping the majority of the current system, let’s make a few relatively simple changes. What if we took one of the at-large seats and turned it into an elected mayor position. It would still have all the characteristics of the at-large seat with two changes. You would have to run specifically to become the mayor, and I would recommend it be turned into a two-year term.

This way every election cycle would have the ability for the voters to choose their mayor. As for mayor pro-tem that position could still be decided in house by the council using the current format. Are there other details to be addressed, such as term limits? Absolutely.

This is just one person’s thoughts on how to take the next step in growth and give Grand Junction city residents more say in who their mayor will be.

Kraig Andrews is a former Grand Junction City Council member and the former Mayor Pro-Tem.