Shorewood will disband its ward system and return to at-large elections this fall, a switch that will require all four council members and the mayor to face election again in November.
After residents packed a public hearing in support of the change, the City Council voted unanimously Monday night to again make the city a single voting district in time for the 2008 elections.
The action ends a lackluster six-year experience with wards during which voter participation declined and residents said they lost the ability to hold the council accountable.
Shorewood, with 7,400 residents, is the only city of its size to have sought special state permission to carve itself up into wards, said City Attorney Tim Keane. Legislators granted that permission in 2002.
"When it comes to ward elections, we set ourselves apart from everybody else," Keane said.
Now the city on the southern shores of Lake Minnetonka has set a new precedent in reversing the decision. Without guidance in state law, Shorewood officials consulted with Hennepin County, the secretary of state and the League of Minnesota Cities to arrive at the conclusion that the decision had to be made by today to be in effect for this fall's elections.
Residents who spoke at the hearing wanted an immediate return to the at-large system.
"I am opposed to the ward system because I think Shorewood is too tiny to fool with that," said Bill Smith.
