Nampa City Council members unanimously agreed to put an issue on the May ballot that, if approved by voters, would create two new positions on the City Council. Three of the four council members said they personally think the measure is unnecessary, but it should be up to city residents. If voters approve the idea, there will be two new council seats on the November ballot in addition to the two already scheduled for the election. Holding an election won’t cost the city anything, but adding two new council positions would cost the city about $40,000 to $50,000 per year, said Mayor Tom Dale, who suggested expanding the council during his State of the City speech last month. “I hate to see us increase the budget to grow government,” Councilwoman Pam White said, but “four or six, it’s the will of the people.” Councilmen Stephen Kren and Martin Thorne said the number of issues that come before the council has increased during the down economy, and they think four people are an adequate number to handle the workload. Bob Henry, the sole councilman who said he agreed with increasing to six members, said he wasn’t concerned about workload but about representation, and that now that the city has around 80,000 residents, it makes sense to have six members. Caldwell and Boise already have six-member councils. Henry also suggested considering an at-large council rather than the current system of a different ballot item for each councilman’s seat. Under an at-large system, the open positions would go to the top vote-getters. Thorne advocated sticking with the current system, widely used across the state, because that way people unhappy with a particular council member can run against or vote against that particular person.