FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) — Fort Wayne City Councilman Russ Jehl (2nd District) has had a goal to make Fort Wayne City Council more equal with the mayor when it comes to appointing members to city entities.

He believes that Fort Wayne City Council should be able to appoint members to each board in the city, so they can be “in the room” for policy decisions.

“Council is in the awkward decision of either rubber-stamping a decision they had no input on or blowing it up,” Jehl said. “That’s not the way the founders intended the checks and balances of the executive and legislative to function.”

To change this, Jehl has been putting legislation before City Council that would give them appointments on more boards.

On Tuesday, City Council looked at the Three Rivers Ambulance Authority (TRAA) Board, the Police Commission and the Safe Housing and Building Oversight Committee.

The vote on TRAA was held until July due to City Council wanting to wait and see how the Allen County Commissioners will handle the unfolding emergency services situation, but the other two passed.

The two passing ordinances get Jehl closer to his goal of having representation on each board, but to complete the fight for representation, he will need some help from the state.

According to Jehl, there are 18 boards that City Council cannot have representation on due to state law, but it’s something he hopes will change soon.

“Tonight, we took a big step forward to make sure our voices are heard for a request for the state to justify keeping council out of boards,” Jehl said.

The mayor still has to sign ordinance changes made by City Council.