Amarillo voters won’t lack choices when they troop to the polls in May to elect their five-member City Council.

This, I submit, is an early victory for the cause of representative democracy.

Three residents are running for mayor. I’ve got my favorite picked already, but I’m just one voter.

All five council seats are up, as they are every odd-numbered year. This year’s election could produce a unique set of issues for voters to consider.

You’ll recall that two years ago, the prevailing issue appeared to be some grumbling among voters about the performance of the council and the city’s top administrative staff. The anger, to my mind, seemed misplaced. Municipal property taxes remain low, the city is growing, downtown is improving, projects are getting done. But there was anger out there.

Two incumbents got bounced out of office; a third incumbent, who was appointed to fill a seat vacated by the death of Jim Simms, decided not to run for election. So the city welcomed three new guys to the council.

Then the trouble got serious. City Manager Jarrett Atkinson quit; the council picked a combative interim manager, Terry Childers, who quit near the end of 2016; and some of the new guys squabbled openly with Mayor Paul Harpole.

Ugghh!

Now the new guys’ seats are on the ballot. Another incumbent who was re-elected in 2015 resigned his seat. The council chose Lisa Blake to succeed Brian Eades. Blake says she’s undecided about running for election. I hope she runs.

As for Harpole, he says he’ll announce soon his intention. I quite sure he’s going to pack it in to pave the way for someone else.

I’m anticipating a full municipal ballot for voters to consider on May 6. That’s how it should be.

As for the issues that voters might have to ponder, they likely will include the occasional flare-ups that occur among certain council members. Is it good for the city for its elected council members to bicker as they have done from time to time? What about the most recent dust-up involving the mayor and someone on the council who allegedly “leaked” information from an executive session to the media?

This kind of open sparring has been rare, indeed, on Amarillo’s governing board.

Municipal governance has become a contact sport at times. I’m going to bet that harmony vs. conflict is going to become one of the issues that candidates will get to discuss among themselves.

Ah, yes. Choices. Won’t this election be fun?