LANGLEY — Faced with a choice of bad timing in August, or bad timing in November, the Langley City Council has decided to grease the skids for an earlier election on whether the city should change its form of government.

A citizen-led petition drive to force a vote that would do away with the position of an elected mayor and have city hall run instead by a city manager was officially approved for the November General Election ballot early last week by the Island County Auditor’s Office.

Faced with the prospect that Langley would have precious little time at the end of this year to set up a city manager-form of government, the city council unanimously approved a move Monday night to send the proposition to voters in August instead.

Council members said the whole question of changing Langley’s government from the “strong mayor form” — the one that’s been in place since the city got its start in 1913 — to the council-manager model was ill-timed. They also said it would create confusion in the minds of voters, since candidates for mayor will also be on the ballot in the November election.

Several on the council said they didn’t like the idea at its core, but acknowledged it was better to have the contentious issue resolved sooner rather than later.

“I personally don’t see the need for changing the form of government, ” said Councilman Bob Waterman.

“I think the timing is just terrible,” he said.

“I’m very sad that they have done this to our community,” said Councilwoman Rene Neff, referring to those who had circulated petitions on the proposal.

Even so, she said the “horrible tension” in town would be lessened by having a vote in August instead of November.

Waiting until a November vote would also cause problems inside city hall, no matter what voters decide.

“We’d have to build two separate budgets,” said City Treasurer Debbie Mahler, due to the current timing of the ballot proposition.

To be able to adopt a finished budget by the end of the year, Mahler said Langley would need one budget that paid for a city manager — which may carry a price tag topping more than $100,000 for salary and benefits — and one with the more modest set-up the city currently uses, a model with a full-time elected mayor who is paid roughly $53,000 plus benefits.

Councilman Hal Seligson said the city would have more time to prepare for a changeover if the decision were made during the Primary Election in August. That would include not only recruiting and hiring a city manager to oversee the day-to-day operations of city hall, but also the work that would be needed to revise the city code to reflect the change in Langley’s system of governance.

The Langley council is expected to vote on a resolution that would call for an August vote during its next meeting on May 23.

The city is also looking for residents who will volunteer to write “pro” and “con” statements for the voter’s guide, and will vote to select members for those committees at the council meeting next week. Potential volunteers can submit a letter of interest to city hall.