The Atlantic City Council, Wednesday evening, passed by a vote of five-to-one, with Councilperson Garrett voting no, and Councilperson Somers absent, the second reading of an amended Ordinance pertaining to elections. The Ordinance needs one more reading in order to go into effect. If that happens, it would change the method by which elections (in particular, the Mayoral and Parks and Rec Board), are decided. The current system is a “Plurality takes all,” whereby one only needs to get the most votes on the first and only ballot, in order to win. That means less than 50% is required to be elected.

The City’s Personnel and Finance Committee supports the alternative, Primary System approach to elections, where by a super majority of the votes are needed to win. It could also result in a run-off election if the votes are too close to call. The disadvantages are that the Primary System adds an additional cost, it could mean extended campaigning, and the inconvenience of having to vote a second time, not to mention confusing or conflicting results.

Mayor Dave Jones said Wednesday, “We have researched and researched, and basically, it’s always they way we were going to change it to, but somewhere it got codified, I think, when Doug Harris was City Administrator. Basically, no one paid a lot of attention to it, they just kind of did what some of the [other] cities do, which a lot of time happens.”

Councilman Gerald Brink said during discussion, “A lot of people don’t understand that.” Councilman Pat McCurdy agreed, and said he had conducted an informal poll of about 30 people. “Three out of four – they want it 50 plus one – especially for Mayor.” The final vote takes place July 21st. The Council passed by a vote of 6-0, an ordinance amending the Code, with regard to changing the term for Park Board Members from six-years, to four. And, they passed a Resolution authorizing final transfers for FY 2021.”

City Clerk Barb Barrick explained, after City Administrator John Lund looked at the budget, and what was in the ending fund balances for FY21, we wanted to have a good idea of where those fund balances were before we proposed the final transfers.” The City routinely transfers money between its one-hundred separate funds.

In other business, the Atlantic City Council set July 21st as the date for a Public Hearing with regard to the sale of City-owned property at 101 Cedar Street. The City’s Personnel and Finance Committee has agreed to sell the parcel to Cook Sanitation, in exchange for the refuse company paying $2,000. The agreement says the property will be sold as-is, dilapidated house included. Cook Sanitation is required to have the home demolished by no later than Dec. 31, 2021, and have an industrial building on the site within five-years (Aug. 2026).

They also approved an Order limiting street parking to the east side of Palm Street on July 31st, for the Cass County Fair Association. The move will make it easier for large farm equipment to enter the fairgrounds for special events that day.