The Bonney Lake City Council is considering a change in how councilmembers are elected.

Presently, five of the seven councilmembers are elected through a ward system, which divides the city into five geographical neighborhoods while two at-large representatives are elected by the city as a whole.

But that could change very soon as the council this week was expected to discuss moving the entire city to an at-large system, allowing all city residents to vote on every seat on the council.

Deputy Mayor Dan Swatman, who himself has served in both ward and at-large council seats, is one of the leading voices in favor of the change.

“I think everybody should be able to vote for every councilmember,” he said Thursday.

Traditionally, the representative system is designed so that the elected officials most closely represents the people from his or her district, but in the case of Bonney Lake, Swatman said the city’s size means that one ward’s issues are almost always the same as another’s.

“What issue doesn’t affect the whole city?” he asked. “Is there really that much of a difference in issues?”

“I can’t think of anything that’s ward-specific. Maybe a pothole or something,” he added.

At the same time, maintaining the ward system means that only a very small percentage of citizens are electing a councilmember who votes on matters, Swatman said, adding that about 20 percent of the city’s population votes in each ward and a majority of that ward – about half – is only really 10 percent of the city electing someone who votes on matters affecting everyone.

Swatman said going to an at-large council could also prevent a single-issue candidate with an axe to grind from getting a space on the council because they would be forced to address the entire city.

Councilmember Mark Hamilton also agrees it is time to make a change.

“It’s about time,” he said of the ordinance coming to the council this week.

Hamilton said such a change is “common sense” because of the city’s size.

“In the case of a city the size of Bonney Lake, one issue on one side of the city can directly affect the other side of the city,” he said. “The city’s just too small to divide it up.”

Presently, city residents get to vote on three council seats every eight years and Hamilton said that is not nearly enough to make real changes in a city’s leadership.

“You can’t really vote out a whole council,” he said, adding that in a ward race, a handful of voters can elect a representative who make decisions affecting everyone.

Though he said in larger cities with greater ethnic diversities or “distinct differences” in neighborhoods, a ward system makes sense, but, he said, residents of Inlet Island care about traffic on state Route 410 just like any other city resident.

Some councilmembers have worried an at-large campaign would be more costly for those running, but Swatman said his last ward campaign was more expensive than an at-large campaign during the same election season because of the competition each faced.

Hamilton also said allowing residents from any section of the city to run for office should encourage more participation.

Swatman also added that any redistricting – such as would be necessary if the city annexes new territory – is a “nakedly political process,” as well as costly in staff time.

Swatman also said the council was planning to address the issue now because four council seats are up for election this year and he said it would not be too political to make such a change after the election.

“It wouldn’t be appropriate at all,” he said. “The right thing for the city is to have people be able to vote for every single councilmember.”

The Bonney Lake City Council is expected to address the issue during it workshop meeting at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.