LANCASTER : Selection of Mayor by Voters Rejected
The Lancaster City Council has rejected a proposal by newly elected Councilman George Runner to have voters directly pick the city’s mayor, preferring instead to automatically rotate the job each year among council members.
No other council member supported Runner’s plan for a ballot measure asking whether the mayor should be elected directly by the voters. Instead, the council voted 4 to 1 Monday night, with Runner dissenting, to formalize its present policy of rotating the job.
Under an ordinance to be presented at the next council meeting, the largely honorary mayor’s job would shift annually based on the tenure of council members. That has been the council’s practice in the past, although it has not been a law nor has it always been followed.
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