Editor:

Review the Facts: The Kingsville Record (July 17 issue) states that the Kingsville Law Enforcement Association headed by Sgt. Tamera Blackstock succeeded in obtaining the 500 signatures needed to place a charter amendment propostion on the next election ballot, which would be in November 2010.

The issue of changing the city commission from five to seven members and for them to serve in single member districts and for the mayor to be chosen by the city commissioners, and therefore depriving the electorate from voting for a mayor, is an unfair and without doubt a poorly researched movement — a preposterous notion to say the least.

A friend of mine told me Sgt. Tamera Blackstock came to his house one evening to solicit his signature for the change from five members on the city council to seven members made up of single member districts.

My first question is why would a police union headed by Sgt. Blackstock be so interested in changing the city commission from five members to seven single member districts?

I would think that our local police union would be more interested in helping officer morale, helping with creative ideas to solve crime in Kingsville that without a doubt we have enough of, and basically be more interested in solving the criminal element in our community rather than on wild goose chases geared to change our city charter from a five member city council to a seven member city council.

For what purpose and what price?

As a voting citizen of Kingsville, I believe we should be able to vote for five members of the city commission versus just one in a single member district. To date, signatures have been gathered with citizens not really knowing what they were signing in terms of why this change is being pursued by Sgt. Tamera Blackstock as president of the Kingsville Law Enforcement Association?

In addition, what are the parameters involved in creating single member districts?

Does this process mean that the City of Kingsville budget is going to be divided into seven districts?

I have always understood that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, but that equation obviously was not considered in this idiotic movement?

What is the purpose of breaking the Kingsville up into single member districts?

Another member of the Police Association, Jesse Amador, is quoted as saying that the “single district representation would be a benefit as a whole and create fairness.”

What benefit and create what fairness?

He goes on to say “As it is now, three commissioners live in the same area.”

This is absolutely idiotic thinking that commissioners that live in the same area are not going to be fair to the people in the other areas of the city.

Does this mean, according to his thinking, that he will fight crime in the area where he lives, rather than in other areas? This kind of unstable thinking surely does not belong in the Kingsville Police Department.

One important variable is that the total cost of the election and then setting up single member districts has not been fully considered.

By a conservative estimation, the entire process will cost the city and taxpayers in excess of $150,000.

These are critical times where $150,000 could be better spent on services to the citizens of Kingsville instead of on a whim of misinformed people.

That $150,000 could help us pave streets, could help hire more police officers and firefighters and more public works employees, could buy much needed equipment, and many more useful purposes that would serve citizens much better than foolish spending on a concept that has no real purpose.

Kingsville is a relatively small rural community and citizens are not overwhelmingly coming out to run for office, which says that the current commission is doing a good job as all have been reelected several times.

I am no stranger to political agendas and the current move by the police association that should be tending to crime in the city instead of chasing a whim is surely some kind of political move, hidden agenda, or ulterior motive.

That is what political agendas are all about, and we have a system in place that allows voting for five individuals in our city commission.

Why are we trying to reinvent the wheel?

The consequences of changing the structure of our city commission to seven single member districts will require the city to spend a considerable amount of money in designing the districts to meet U.S. Justice Department approval.

There has been no public debate on this issue and a small percentage of the electorate in Kingsville have signed a petition with many unanswered questions.

I suggest that the public should be well informed before such decisions are made, and now we will probably have an election with little information regarding the economic ramifications of changing the city council to sevenmember district based on a whim.

I ask all of you to vote no on this ridiculous city charter amendment and ask those of you who signed the petition to reconsider the many variables that you were not told about, which could affect our city in a very negative manner.

A Concerned Citizen,

Ben Figueroa