The Salisbury City Council has an easy vote in about a week, and minutiae should not prevent a unanimous decision.

The council should vote 5-0 to finally give its voters a voice in choosing a mayor by putting a referendum question on November’s ballot. As proposed, it would allow the mayor to keep all the powers he or she possesses under the current system — council members politely agree to choose the highest vote-getter — and maintain the same term length for council members. It’s not a sweeping change for the mayor’s position, but it would give voters power they’ve long lacked.

What’s more, the referendum would simply ask voters’ opinion on that change.

The question should be put to voters in simple language; no need to dive into details about the mechanics of the election process in 2021, if council members eventually enact the change. Mayor Al Heggins raised questions about what would happen if 10 people ran for mayor and suggested having a primary, but we’d suggest the question of whether a primary is needed ranks as a secondary question to whether the election should be separate from that of the council.

It’s important that council members understand and are able to communicate to voters the powers and responsibilities of a separately elected mayor as well as how long he or she would serve. Further details should be addressed at a time following the referendum.

It’s clear a majority of council members (at least three) are interested in pursuing the referendum and perhaps eventually enacting the change, too. And a unanimous vote would give a clear signal to voters that Salisbury City Council members are interested in and supportive of truly hearing their voices. There will be a number of regular City Council voters who would choose “yes” in November but would be unlikely to attend a public hearing on the topic.

So what would the text of the referendum question look like? Just one sentence and two options:

Amend city charter to provide separate election for Salisbury mayor.

[  ] For    [  ] Against

City Council members only need to look a few miles down U.S. 52 — to Granite Quarry Town Hall — to see that such a change can go smoothly, too. In 2015, after a change to the town charter, Granite Quarry voters elected their first mayor — Bill Feather — after aldermen had previously chosen the officeholder among themselves.

Said another way, Granite Quarry just did what Salisbury City Council members are considering without a referendum.

And things seem to be going well for the Rowan County town. Just last week, the Post’s Mark Wineka reported that a company is considering Granite Quarry for an economic development project that would bring 191 jobs over three years.

The Salisbury City Council needs to take action by Aug. 20 in order to add a referendum to the November ballot. That action should be one of the easier decisions for council members during their current term.