Iola’s new city government will be designed in a charter ordinance written by current city commissioners under the home rule amendment to the Kansas Constitution ap-proved by the state’s voters, 55 percent in favor, 45 percent opposed, in 1960.
The reason for the amendment is thoroughly explained in “Kansas Politics and Government — The Clashes of Political Cultures” in a chapter devoted to the constitution.
For the first 100 years of its history, Kansas towns and cities governed themselves under state laws. A federal court ruling known as…
