By Nancy Mendez

Whittier Assistant City Manager

The Whittier City Council is pleased that Whittier’s voters were able to choose for themselves their preferred method of electing their council members.

Measure W on the June 3, 2014 ballot amended the city charter to establish a directly elected mayor position and district based council members. The mayoral election will occur every two years, while the council term will be four years. Now that the measure has passed, the council will begin to take steps to form the required districts in conformity with California law.

The council unanimously voted last August to allow residents to vote June 3, 2014, on a proposed city charter amendment that would change how council members are elected to office. The 5-0 vote came after more than 30 residents provided input during the public comment portion of that meeting, many supporting a change to district-based elections.

Those districts should be in place prior to the next council election, in April 2016.

The council will also take steps to have the pending case against Whittier dismissed so that the council and the citizens can focus on moving forward with the new election system.