During a December 3 special election, voters in Columbia, S.C. (pop. 131, 686), defeated a ballot initiative to change the capital city’s current council-manager form of government to the mayor-council form. Residents retained council-manager by a margin of 1,629 votes, or 6,684 (57%) in favor of retention vs. 5,055 (43%) in favor of change.

The path that led to the December 3 vote took some interesting turns, with the Columbia council resisting efforts to place the question on the ballot until this past fall. A citizen-led petition drive in September successfully obtained more than 12,000 signatures in favor of placing the question on the ballot. Following certification of those signatures, the council voted on September 11 to place its own form of government question on the ballot, and rather than combine that question with the November 5 mayoral election, to hold a special election on the structure issue on December 3.

ICMA collaborated with the pro-council-manager citizens’ group Communities United for a Great Columbia on its campaign to educate residents about the benefits of council-manager government. On November 13, the Columbia newspaper The State, which actively advocated for the switch to mayor-council government, published a pro-retention editorial coauthored by ICMA Executive Director Bob O’Neill and Gary Cannon, executive director, South Carolina Workers’ Compensation Commission. ICMA also provided a financial contribution to Communities United for a Great Columbia from the ICMA Fund for Professional Management.

The retention effort preserves Columbia’s 64-year-history of council-manager government until 2017, as state law prevents another strong-mayor question from appearing on the ballot for the next four years.

Need form-of-government assistance?  ICMA provides information, presentations, and other educational materials and support to individuals and organizations interested in promoting professional management and the council-manager form of government. Contact Michele Frisby, dierctor of communication & public information, at mfrisby@icma.org or 202-962-3658.