(Atlantic) At Wednesday’s Atlantic City Council meeting, the Council failed to receive the 75-percent majority vote to pass the city’s new Ward and Mapping system onto the third reading, amending the City Code by dividing Atlantic into Five Wards and Five Precincts. The City Council voted 4-2 to pass the ordinance to the third reading, which did not meet the necessary 75-percent majority. Councilmen Gerald Brink voted no on the passage of the new mapping and no on to the waiving of the rules and moving on to the third reading. Dana Halder voted yes for the new maps, and no to waiving the rules and moving onto the third reading.
Atlantic City Clerk Barb Barrick says the new mapping ordinance will now be placed on the February 2 agenda for another vote by the Council. If the new boundary maps don’t receive the 75-percent vote, the City will turn the maps over to the state to draw the maps.
At the January 3 Atlantic City Council meeting, the Council approved the new mapping ordinance. However, the Council voted again on Wednesday because of an oversight on the rules by the presumed deadline.
Atlantic City Clerk Barb Barrick contacted the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office with this issue. As suspected, the Secretary of State’s Office wanted to get their hands on the City’s maps submitted on time. They accommodated the error and wanted the voting results sent to them.
The Council needed to suspend the rules requiring three separate ordinance readings at three different readings at three individual meetings. To do this, the Council was tasked to suspend the rules for three readings, have a second, and receive three-fourths of the votes of the full Council, which would be six of seven members of the City Council. The measure failed to pass, to waive the ordinance to the third reading.
If the Secretary of State’s Office redraws the new maps, it would cost the City of Atlantic $5,000.00.
