Over the past four years, Galesburg has seen a complete overhaul of the City Council.
The city has experienced multiple resignations during this time. These resignations have led to the appointment of new alderpersons in Ward 2, Ward 3 and Ward 5 who will finish the terms of those who stepped down. Once the appointed terms are up, those individuals will have to pivot and mount vigorous campaigns to retain their seats.
This unprecedented change has negatively impacted the city’s ability to give proper attention to achieving good governance.
It has reduced continuity, minimized the overall knowledge of the issues confronting the city and shifted the focus from those struggling economically to that of allocating resources toward maintaining city infrastructure and streets.
With this turnover in the make-up of the council, there is now a window of opportunity to chart a new course and identity for our city that will genuinely address problems such as vacant property, improving economic outcomes for all Galesburg residents and their children, collaborating with the school board to address the 70% of the district students who are economically disadvantaged and tackling the issue of homelessness.
I have been pondering over how the “body politic’ of Galesburg arrived at this precarious position? Britannica offers this definition of body politic: in Western political thought, an ancient metaphor by which a state, society, or church and its institutions are conceived of as a biological (unusually human body).
As it is usually applied, the metaphor implies hierarchical leadership and a division of labor, and it carries a strong autocratic or monarchial connotation. USLEGAL further elaborated on the word by stating a body politic refers to a group of individuals organized under a single government or authority, representing a nation or state.
This collective entity is recognized as having some degree of sovereignty, which means it can exercise political power and make decisions for the common good of its members within a defined geographical area. The concept of a body politic emphasizes the importance of governance and the shared responsibilities and benefits among its members.
The City Council of Galesburg has seven elected counselors who represent Ward 1 through Ward 7. The seven counselors meet twice a month in a public session to discuss, debate, and vote on the agenda items before the council. The City Manager is the person who directs the day-to-day business of the city and manages the city’s staff with the Mayor of Galesburg serving as the public face of the municipality.
The three resignations and along with the ensuing elections to seat new counselors to serve full terms indeed brought fresh faces to the council but these have also negative impacted the council to resolve tough problems.
I ask with all sincerity: is it fair to ask those new members seated on the council to serve out the term of those who resigned? Is it fair to ask them to change their lives and schedules to represent, “we the people” under such conditions? I say no, it is not fair.
When the counselor concludes their limited appointed term, they must quickly pivot and mount election campaigns, which by way entail a financial cost as well. Again, this process favors the challenger and not the incumbents who have only served a partial term.
This situation has indeed hampered the goals of good governance while once again bringing the city to the same place it was 2-3 years ago. The pressing problems are still with us today.
At this moment, our city has been granted a unique opportunity to create something new and dynamic with the new individuals recently elected and appointed to the council. It is time to turn the page on the political ideologies which hinder good governance and focus making progress a reality for everyone in Galesburg.
Rev. Andrew Jowers is a minister in Galesburg.
This article originally appeared on Galesburg Register-Mail: Many Paths: Galesburg City Council must chart a new course | Opinion
Reporting by Rev. Andrew Jowers, Special to the Galesburg Register-Mail / Galesburg Register-Mail
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