Letter: Take Bluffton decision to the people
The definition of referendum is “take it to the people.” Should the Bluffton Town Council decide which ones?
That was the result of a workshop a few weeks back on expansion of Town Council from five to seven members. Normally, town of Bluffton affairs are voted on in odd-numbered years. I was astounded to listen to the justification that if we had this vote in an even-numbered year, we would have a turnout that consists of people who presumably don’t participate in town affairs.
When the whole idea of expansion is to get more people involved with town business, I’m flabbergasted by this. The ordinance provides for a majority of council to decide this, but when the majority of council members defend their stand by limiting a turnout and by participation assumptions, I don’t think I’d be on the record publicly supporting this.
On the other hand, maybe seven members would be too many. They have a hard time dealing with the lackluster output of five. What are they afraid of?
Ted Huffman
Bluffton
This story was originally published July 28, 2016 at 3:44 PM with the headline "Letter: Take Bluffton decision to the people."