Walter Kowalczyk has presided over the Bellwater City Council for so long that most sitting members have never voted on anyone else for the job. That changes next month, after Council Member Aisha Muhammad announced Monday she will challenge him for the council presidency.
Muhammad, who represents Riverside Heights and chairs the council’s housing committee, told the Bellwater Times she decided to run after months of frustration over how committee chairs and meeting agendas are assigned under Kowalczyk, who has held the at-large presidency since before most current members joined the council. “I’ve watched housing and neighborhood items get pushed to the end of the agenda meeting after meeting while zoning and economic development items go first,” Muhammad said. “That’s not an accident. That’s a set of choices, and I think it’s time someone else got to make them.”
The council president is chosen by a vote of the full seven-member body at an annual reorganizational meeting, a formality in most years since Kowalczyk has typically run unopposed. Council rules require a candidate to secure four votes to win the gavel, meaning Muhammad would need to flip at least three of her six colleagues, including her own vote, to unseat Kowalczyk.
Kowalczyk defends his record
Kowalczyk, who cast one of the deciding votes for last year’s $86 million transit corridor and has presided over some of the most contentious meetings in recent city history, said he welcomed a contested vote after so many years without one. “I don’t think anyone should get a job forever just because nobody bothered to ask for it,” Kowalczyk said. “But I’d put my record of getting difficult things passed up against anyone’s.”
Running this council isn’t about which district you represent. It’s about getting six other strong-willed people to occasionally agree on something. I’ve done that for eleven years, sometimes at 1 in the morning, and I’d like the chance to keep doing it.
Walter Kowalczyk, City Council President
Council Member Terrence Boudreaux, who represents Lowertown, said he was leaning toward supporting Muhammad, citing his own frustration that a proposed dedicated reinvestment fund for his district has stalled in committee for months without a hearing date. “I’m not saying Walter’s done a bad job running meetings,” Boudreaux said. “I’m saying whose priorities get a hearing and whose get delayed until people stop asking isn’t neutral, and I think Aisha would run this differently.”
A cautious middle
Not every council member has signaled a preference. Council Member Denise Okafor, who represents West Bellwater, said she valued Kowalczyk’s experience steering the council through complicated votes but had not decided how she would vote next month. “Walter has a way of finding four votes on things that shouldn’t have four votes,” Okafor said. “That skill matters more than people give it credit for. I want to hear both of them make their case before I commit to anything.”
Council Member Patricia Yoon, whose downtown district has benefited from Kowalczyk’s support on the storefront-vacancy ordinance she has championed, said she was inclined to back him but stopped short of a formal endorsement. “He’s been a reliable partner on issues that matter to Vale Avenue,” Yoon said. “I’d need a good reason to change that relationship right before a budget vote.”
City Manager Marcus Whitfield, who works with whoever holds the presidency to set meeting agendas, declined to weigh in on the contest but acknowledged the timing was awkward, coming in the middle of budget season. “Whoever holds the gavel next month is going to be running some very long meetings almost immediately,” Whitfield said. “I’d just as soon know who that is sooner rather than later.”
Muhammad said her platform, beyond committee assignments, would include a pledge to rotate the housing and public works committee chairs more often and to guarantee neighborhood-specific items a hearing within 45 days of being introduced. “People shouldn’t have to wait a year to find out whether their issue is even going to get a committee slot,” she said.
Council Member Gary Petrowski, who represents Cedar Hollow and recently secured funding for a transit feasibility study in his district, said he was still counting votes in his head rather than making promises publicly. “I got my study funded working within the system Walter runs,” Petrowski said. “That matters to me. But I also understand why Terrence and Aisha feel like the system doesn’t work the same way for Lowertown and Riverside Heights.”
The reorganizational vote is scheduled for the council’s first meeting next month. Kowalczyk said he did not intend to campaign for the position in any formal sense. “I’m not going door to door,” he said. “If six of my colleagues don’t think I should keep doing this job, they’ll tell me, and I’ll respect that. But I’m not going anywhere quietly before that vote happens.”