First, they are Community Councils, not city Councils.  Second, they are democratically chartered and often are.  You can run for office, some would welcome you without an election as there is no competition.  So if you are not represented on a Council, that can be addressed, by you.  The "same complaints" were not the case when New Seward was being contemplated; when I was doing some of the initial surveying in 1971 the Councils did not exist.  Minnesota had a checkered history, being known for some time as the Minnesota Buckpass due to problems encountered....15th and I St. had a horrible collision record, a number of folks lost their lives.