Should Dallas County Board of Supervisors expand to 5 members? Issue to be on fall ballot

Dallas County voters will get to vote Nov. 5 on whether to expand the county Board of Supervisors to five members from three after the board voted unanimously Wednesday night in favor of placing the question on the ballot.

Dallas County mayors have been spearheading the effort to get the supervisors to approve putting the proposal on the ballot. The mayors submitted a petition on Tuesday with what they said were more than enough signatures to meet a requirement that it be signed by at least 4,487 voters, equivalent in number to 10% of those who cast ballots in the county for president or governor in the last general election.

The resolution the board approved noted that 5,004 signatures had been collected — sufficient even though Supervisor Kim Chapman noted that 160 were disqualified.

Board Chair Brad Golightly commended the effort behind the petition, which had the backing of 14 of the county's mayors, and said that "for the most part, things were complete and were appropriate."

Golightly represents District I, which includes Perry, Bouton, Woodward, Granger, Minburn, Grimes, Urbandale and Clive. Supervisor Mark Hanson represents District II, which includes Dallas Center, Adel and Waukee. Chapman represents District III, which includes Linden, Redfield, Dexter, De Soto, Van Meter and West Des Moines.

If voters approve expanding the number of seats on the board, each of the supervisors, at least for the time being, will represent a specific, newly drawn district, but will be elected at-large by all county voters, as they are currently. Waukee Mayor Courtney Clarke, who led the drive to gather signatures for the petition, said after Wednesday's meeting that, while the mayors would prefer district elections, voters would have to approve that change in another election.

The mayors of Adel, Bouton, Clive, Dallas Center, De Soto, Granger, Minburn, Perry, Redfield, Urbandale, Van Meter, West Des Moines and Woodward, in addition to Clarke, previously had signed a letter dated May 21 requesting then that the board take action by June 11 to put board expansion on the ballot.

"We believe that with the complexity of a growing county, two additional supervisors would provide numerous benefits," the mayors wrote.

According to their letter, those benefits would include:

• A smaller ratio of residents per supervisor, more equitably distributing the workload and allowing "more efficient oversight and delivery of services by each supervisor."
• Easier compliance with Iowa's open meeting law. With a three-member board, "There may be opportunity for two members to communicate independently of open meetings and make decisions," and expanding the membership would support transparency by reducing the likelihood of such non-public communication, according to talking points provided by Clarke.
• Broader representation of various perspectives in Iowa's fastest-growing county . "As the diversity of growth in Dallas County continues amongst many communities we believe additional points of view through additional supervisor positions contributes significantly to better decision making," the mayors wrote.

May letter asking board to expand got no response, Waukee mayor says

Clarke said the May letter sought to give the board an opportunity to act on its own accord before petition organizers started gathering signatures. But she told the Des Moines Register she had not heard anything from the board since the letter was delivered.

Supervisor Mark Hanson said in Wednesday's meeting that when the issue of expanding the number of seats on the board came up about 10 years ago, the board agreed that it would not put it on the ballot unless it saw evidence that voters backed the change.

Hanson said the petition the supervisors received Tuesday was the result of a bipartisan effort, and "there are a lot of my friends and neighbors that are on these petition sheets that know me, and I've talked to some of them, and I believe in democracy, and this is a legal way to have this put on the ballot."

Golightly told the Register after the meeting that like Hanson, he wanted to see that the effort to expand the number of seats on the board come from the people.

Clarke said the effort behind the letter and petition began after the mayors revived periodic meetings with one another earlier this year .

"We want to make sure that there’s input across the county for what’s happening across the county," she said.

The mayors noted this year is the time to act because the next general election — this November's — would be the baseline for future efforts. Because it is a presidential election, it presumably will have higher voter turnout, requiring more signatures, they said.

Clarke said she does not have an ideal district map in mind for a five-seat board.

"Our goal is to make sure no matter what the slices look like, that there’s representation," she said.

Under state law , a remapping of districts would be carried out by a county redistricting commission, based on population, and would be subject to approval by the Iowa secretary of state.

Dallas ranks sixth among Iowa's 10 most-populous counties. Among the others, six, including Polk, have five-member boards of supervisors. Three in addition to Dallas, including Linn, the state's second most populous, have three-member boards.

Phillip Sitter covers the western suburbs for the Des Moines Register. Phillip can be reached via email at psitter@gannett.com or on X at @pslifeisabeauty.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Should Dallas County Board of Supervisors expand to 5 members? Issue to be on fall ballot