Public Hearing on District Voting Tonight

The City of Wenatchee holds a long awaited public hearing on a proposal to create voting districts and use results in General elections tonight.

The proposed ordinance would end at-large election of council members and create seven voting districts.  Mayor Frank Kuntz says cities in Eastern Washington are going to district voting "Yakima has, Pasco has.  I think just to make sure we have a diverse City Council that is not all living on the same street"

The city has been studying the issue since a 2014 court ruling against the city of Yakima which had a significant hispanic population that was not represented on the City Council.  In 2016, a committee recommended the city replace the current system to better represent minority neighborhoods.

The city council will vote on a proposed ordinance no sooner than one week after tonight's hearing scheduled for 5:15pm at city hall