With state legislation to add an elected mayor to Gainesville City Council getting final approval, it would be the first substantive change since the city went from a three-person commission to five in 1958. In the 1950s, some Gainesville residents were less than enthusiastic about the three-man operation. And it was "man" because no women had been elected at that point, not to mention any blacks.
Gainesville's changes in council structure come rarely