1 vote keeps Nogales from city-manager government

Thursday, 4 November 1999
http://www.azstarnet.com/public/dnews/1104N07.html

By Ignacio Ibarra
The Arizona Daily Star

NOGALES - The vote on a proposed change to the Nogales city charter went down to the last ballot.

Late Tuesday, with 15 questioned ballots pending, the proposition to switch Nogales from a strong-mayor to a city manager form of government was winning by one vote - 999 to 998.

But after the election board yesterday allowed all but one of the questioned ballots, the final tally gave the no votes a similarly thin margin of victory: 1,006 to 1,005.

One of the organizers of the charter change effort, former Arizona Gov. Raul Castro, said the election demonstrated support for a change to a city manager form of government and that the old adage ``every vote counts'' is true.

Castro said he is convinced the proposition failed because of opposition to two other measures on the Nogales ballot dealing with term limits and salaries.

Proposition 1, which would have changed the terms of the mayor and board of aldermen from two to four years and eliminate a two-term limit in favor of an eight-year limit, lost 1,101 to 907.

The third proposition, which asked voters to increase the mayor's monthly salary from $50 to $500, and aldermen's salaries from $25 to $250, was rejected by a vote of 1,093 to 933.

The election drew about 23 percent of Nogales' 8,842 registered voters.
Ignacio Barraza, Nogales' assistant city administrator, said the city did not propose the charter changes and has no desire to take the matter back to the voters.

``It was proposed by an independent group of citizens that petitioned the City Council to place this on the November ballot, and the City Council heeded their petition,'' said Barraza. ``There is no interest on the part of the current administration to place this on the ballot next year. Whether or not there is some independent group willing to do that, that's strictly up to the citizens of the community.''

Castro said Nogales residents who opposed the propositions have expressed a desire to help draft revisions to the charter proposal.

``I think we'll see this again, and this time probably with better results. I think both sides are willing to get together and compromise and maybe by next year the charter will be changed,'' said Castro.
He said the manager form of government would increase professionalism and stability in city government and make the community more attractive to outside investment.

Marcelino Varona Jr., a local educator and opponent of the charter changes, said late Tuesday that he was not opposed to any of the charter changes in concept. He said he and other opponents of the measures objected to what they saw as a deliberate attempt by the current mayor and council to benefit from the charter adjustments.

He said he was particularly concerned by the lack of criteria for the qualifications of a manager, and the amount of control the mayor would have had in selecting a manager.

``We still have concerns with the wording, but we're going to get a committee together to rewrite all three propositions and put them back on the ballot in November (2000),'' he said.


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