The “Turlay” provision?

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The proposed changes to the Vancouver city charter are out, and I admit to not attending any meetings of the charter review committee. My job demands that I have a high tolerance for boring, but even I have limits. I knew the committee wasn’t considering anything splashy.

But this caught my eye. Hmmm. Last year Councilor Bill Turlay, who wasn’t up for re-election, ran against Mayor Tim Leavitt. Councilor Jeanne Stewart, whose term was up, had been rumored to run for mayor, but didn’t because if she had lost to Leavitt she would have been off the council. (As it was, she wasn’t even able to keep her seat.) And now we have this, which says if a councilor wants to run for mayor mid-term he or she has to resign from the council.

The city council will talk about the proposed charter changes on Monday. Changes would have to be approved by voters, but the charter changes won’t be on the ballot until 2015 because the far-more-interesting county charter is on the ballot this November and nobody wants voter confusion.