City Council terms will remain at four years, but both student and city leaders hope the discussion created by the special election continues.

The petition that forced the special election sparked debate among City Council members, community members and students. The students behind the petition said they still support their action.

“I think any time you are trying to institute some change, it’s going to create some controversy, and I don’t think that is necessarily a bad thing — it creates discussion,” said Henry Alliger, Government of the Student Body speaker of the senate.

Alliger said the special election was a way for students to show they care about the Ames community.

“The petition was the only way to support the term change,” he said. “I’m still happy about what we did; it provided much needed attention to issues in the community.”

Ryan Doll, Towers Residence Association senator, said he thought the petition was necessary to create more productive discussions with the city.

“We met with the city at our joint GSB-City Council meeting, and it was largely ignored, brushed off by the city,” he said.

Former ex-officio student City Council member Andrew Tugan said he did not support shortening terms but thought the discussion was important. Tugan said he questioned, however, whether the stir created by the petition was necessary to create discussion.

“Alliger said now he didn’t expect it to pass, which makes me wonder why they went forward with something that spent city dollars and took up so much time for both the city and students,” Tugan said.

Councilman Steve Goodhue said he thinks the petition was the wrong way to go about creating discussion because it caught City Council members and the community off guard.

“Was it good in the end? I don’t think so,” Goodhue said. “I think it would have been better for GSB leaders or student leaders to contact the mayor and say, ‘We want to sit down and talk; we have concerns and we want to talk.'”

Goodhue said the petition made the city and students appear as though they were working against each other, which has never been the case.

He said he supports continued discussion on ways to increase student involvement in city government.

Ames Mayor Ted Tedesco said although the petition was met with “a difference of opinion,” he supported the right to petition the City Council.

“Certainly, it was an exercise that periodically the citizens and the voters need to go through; it kind of made them think about their government,” he said. “Whether that need or change was in order was the decision of the community.”

Councilman Russ Cross agreed students should, as residents of Ames, exercise their right to petition government, although he thought discussion had already begun without the petition.

Tedesco said he is open to students approaching him with suggestions for city government.

“Young people need to be more conscious of city government, make a relationship with their representatives, pay attention to the issues that are being discussed and bring their issues forward,” he said.

Alliger said students should continue to be involved with the city and remember they are an important part of the process.

“It has demonstrated that a very small group of people can get their issue heard in a big way,” Alliger said.

Putting the question on the ballot did not cost the city any extra money since there was already an election concerning the hotel/motel tax planned, said City Attorney John Klaus and City Clerk Diane Voss. Story County Deputy Auditor Dani Dunham said the total cost of the election is still unknown but will probably be about $14,000, based on the cost of the last special election.

Doll said the cost for the two-year terms campaign was minimal. Costs included fliers, signs and buttons, which were paid for with donations. He said many people, however, spent the majority of their free time working on the campaign after the petition was submitted.