News

Gary Scheppke

Previous News Stories

June 24th, 2009

Police Log

Novatan’s film airs Sunday on KQED

Corrections

Private operator plan for sewage plant fought

Grass fire

Services for Melody Osheroff delayed ’til dad’s home

No pleas yet in murder

Buses cut, teachers’ pay may be next

Police Chief: Crime down in Novato

Training burn

Novato man proposes five separate council districts

By Tim Omarzu Managing Editor
Wednesday, September 5, 2007 3:42 PM PDT

Gary Scheppke wants to change the way Novatans elect city councilmembers.

Instead of the at-large system under which a councilmember can come from anywhere in the city, Scheppke hopes someday to put a ballot initiative before Novato voters that would carve the city into five separate council districts, each with its own councilmember.

“All of our councilpeople are good people,” he said. But council gets filled with “the same people over and over again and they're out of the same neighborhoods.”

Scheppke is one of the roughly 26,000 Novatans who live in the 94947 zip code who don't have a councilmember from their part of town.

Meanwhile, the 94949 zip code has three councilmembers for its roughly 14,000 residents and the 94945 zip code has two councilmembers living among its 15,000 residents.

“So you have half the population represented by all the council,” Scheppke said.

He thinks elected officials naturally pay more attention to their own neighborhoods. A newcomer to city politics, Scheppke said he doesn't have an ax to grind; he said he would feel the same way even if all five councilmembers came from his neighborhood.

Scheppke proposes to use a computer program to redistrict the city strictly based on population. The districts won't be gerrymandered, or drawn to any candidate's advantage, he said.

Incumbent city councilwoman Pat Ecklund said she has heard from constituents who'd like to vote directly for Novato's mayor, as opposed to having city council appoint the mayor. But Ecklund said she's never before heard anyone propose to establish city council districts.

“My philosophy is that I represent and I work for all of the constituents in Novato. And I make decisions based on what I think is best for the entire town,” she said.

“I used to live in 94947 and I still own a home in 94947,” added Ecklund, who represented that zip code for most of her 12 years on council.

“I cannot think of a city in Marin or Sonoma that does elections by district,” she said. “That's not to say it's a bad idea. If the people want district elections, that's definitely their choice.”

Scheppke is forming a nonprofit organization and looking for 50 to 100 volunteers to collect 2,637 signatures from 10 percent of Novato's registered voters to put the initiative on an upcoming general-election ballot. There won't be time to get it on November's ballot, he said.

Scheppke is a Wisconsin native who helped manage nonprofit trade associations including the Wisconsin Realtors Association before moving to Novato in 1987. He worked was a manager in the circulation department of the San Francisco Chronicle before semi-retiring in 2004.

Scheppke thinks he'll get support for city council districts.

“Ultimately, it's going to happen,” he predicted.

€ Those interested in Scheppke's proposal can contact him at orgtac@orgrtac.org

Article Rating

Reader Comments

Submit a Comment

We encourage your feedback and dialog; all comments will be reviewed by our Web staff before appearing on the Web site. Any material that is contrary to good taste, contains objectionable material, is not in compliance with community standards or does not meet the standards of the Advance, will not be posted to the Web site.

Name:

Email: (optional)

Comments:

Image Verification: (Case sensitive)