Coquitlam voters may have more than a list of candidates to choose from during the November municipal race.
City council is expected to decide over the next few weeks if a referendum question will be added to the ballot.
On Wednesday, council met with city managers to talk about a possible public opinion question and whether to strike a sub-committee but nothing concrete came out that meeting.
City clerk Jay Gilbert said the wording for the potential question must be formed by the summer break to make sure it is on the electronic form.
For last year's byelection, when Coun. Neal Nicholson was returned to council and replaced Fin Donnelly - now MP for New Westminster-Coquitlam - the city gauged voter opinion on: a ban for smoking on restaurant patios and extending off-leash hours in Mundy Park (both were approved).
But the questions were added too late for the electronic ballot, meaning each response had to be hand-counted. Council also didn't give itself enough time to decide if the questions should be binding or non-binding.
"We want to make sure we're not in the position we were last time," Mayor Richard Stewart said Thursday.
In his report to council, Gilbert said the cost for the referendum "can most likely be absorbed in the existing funding provided by the city's election reserve fund. Final costs are dependent on such factors as the number of questions added to the ballot, increased costs associated with ballot production, programming of voting machines and related advertising/communications expenses."
City staff were unable to provide the budget for the 2011 election by press time Thursday.
On Monday, city council appointed Lauren Hewson as the chief election officer and Kerri Lore as the deputy chief election officer. Voters go to the polls Nov. 19 in municipal elections around the province.
