2013-02-18 CHARTER REVIEW COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES2013 CHARTER REVIEW COMMISSION
MINUTES OF MEETING
FEBRUARY 18, 2013
Present at the Meeting:
Commission Members City Staff
Dale E. Pillow, Chair Lawrence G. Provins
Jeff Koza
Joe Watkins
Call to order was at 5:40 pm by the Chair.
The Minutes from meeting on 01-21-2013 were amended and approved.
The Commission discussed potential
recommended change was to revise a
10.17 that both define "the City."
changes to Article 1. The only
redundancy in Article 1.02 and Article
There were no recommended changes to Article 2.
The Commission discussed potential changes to Article 3, including:
Increase the size of Council to 7 with no changes in the Mayor's ability to vote.
The Commission thought that potential benefits to increasing council size are:
Diversification in opinions on City Council.
As the City's population has increased, the ratio of council members to
residents has also increased. When the Charter was originally adopted,
there might have been one council member per 1,000 residents. Now, it is
one council member per 20,240 residents.
Greater flexibility for Council to form committees and not violate the Texas
Open Meeting Act.
Prevent just two people from making policy changes for the entire City.
(Currently, if only a quorum is present, it only takes two votes to adopt a
resolution or ordinance).
Allows for an increase in influence in regional organizations.
Allow more people to participate in local government.
Change the powers of City Council to allow the Mayor to vote; but subject the
Mayor to the same term lengths and limits as the rest of City Council.
Change the Length of Terms and Term Limits for City Council to:
3 -year terms with a 4 -term limit for the mayor but require the mayor to sit
out a full term after term limit is reached.
Change the term limits for all of City Council to require sitting out a full
term, not just one year, after limit has been reached.
Increase term limits from 2 terms to 3 terms, but require sitting out a full
term before running again.
Increase the term length to 4 years, but require sitting out a full term after
term limits reached.
Potential benefits to some of the changes include:
Reduce the cost of running elections. Instead of paying $X for 3 years, it
would be $X for 4 years.
Allows for Council members to not worry about being re-elected and
instead vote for what they truly believe is in the City's best interests.
The Commission agreed to review the remainder of Article 3 and Articles 4, 5,
and 6 at the next meeting, currently scheduled for March 18, 2013.
The Commission asked for a copy of the City Council meeting minutes
discussing why City Council did not accept prior Charter Review Commission
recommendations and send some of them to the voters.
The Commission asked that staff recommendations regarding potential changes
to Articles 3-6 be sent via email prior to the next meeting.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:45 pm.
Minutes approved as submitted and/or corrected March 18, 2013.
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Dale E. Pillow,