The Leon County Democratic Party announced Wednesday it opposes any proposed charter amendment that would create single-member districts or increase the number of seats on the Tallahassee City Commission.
The Democratic Executive Committee’s general body voted 36-6 to take a stance against the proposals during its monthly meeting on Monday, the party said in a news release. The vote comes a day before the city’s Charter Review Committee is set to discussing expanding the commission’s five-person membership. The DEC Executive Committee has around 100-110 members.
“Expanding the commission and districting Tallahassee voters would be an expensive, divisive waste of time,” said John Hedrick, a state committeeman and former DEC chair. “Proud to join the vast majority of my Democratic colleagues in taking a strong position against commission-packing and undemocratically dividing our community against itself through a needless districts scheme.”
Counterpoint: Charter review needs to focus on expanding commission, reviewing election structure