Loading...
Ord. 0837 02-23-98ORDINANCE NO. 837 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PEARLAND, TEXAS, ORDERING A SPECIAL ELECTION TO BE HELD ON THE SECOND DAY OF MAY, 1998; DESIGNATING THE HOURS AND PLACE FOR HOLDING SUCH ELECTION AND PROVIDING FOR SUBMISSION TO THE VOTERS OF CERTAIN PROPOSED CHARTER AMENDMENTS. WHEREAS, the Charter Review Commission's objective in amending the current Charter was twofold: (1) to bring the Charter into compliance with current state law; and (2) to clarify ambiguities in the current Charter; and WHEREAS, City Council agrees with the Commission's objectives and commends it for meeting the challenge presented; and WHEREAS, City Council, in accordance with the City's Charter, received these proposed amendments into the City's official records on September 29, 1997, and hereby accepts the Commission's recommendations; now, therefore, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PEARLAND, TEXAS: Section 1. That proposed amendments to the Home Rule Charter of the City of Pearland, Texas, shall be submitted to the vote of the duly qualified electors of the City of Pearland, Texas, in a Special Election to be held at the same time and places and in accordance with the procedure otherwise employed in connection with the Regular City Election to be held on May 2, 1998, pursuant to applicable provisions of the Home Rule Charter, Resolutions No. R98-17 and R98-18, respectively, incorpo- rated herein for all purposes, and applicable statutes of the State of Texas. Section 2. That the portions of the Charter of the City of Pearland which are proposed to be amended are attached hereto as Exhibit "A" and made a part hereof for all purposes. 1 ORDINANCE NO. 837 Section 3. That the Presiding Judge of the election of city officers shall appoint two additional Clerks to assist in the voting on the proposed Charter Amendments. Section 4. That the City Secretary is hereby directed to cause notice of the submission of said Charter Amendments to be published in the official City newspaper, together with the text of each proposed amendment in accordance with state and local law. Section 5. That immediately after said election is held, the officers holding same shall make returns of the results thereof to the mayor of this City as required by the Election Code. A copy of this Ordinance shall also serve as a Writ of Election which shall be delivered to the duly appointed Presiding Judge for said elections. PASSED and APPROVED on First Reading on this 9th day of February , A.D., 1998. ATTEST: TOM REID MAYOR 2 ORDINANCE NO. 837 PASSED and APPROVED on Second and Final Reading this 23rd day of February , A.D., 1998. ATTEST: NG L • 't I rj/' Y SECTARY APPRO ,END AS TO FORM: M ITES McCULLOUGH CITY ATTORNEY TOM REID MAYOR 3 EXHIBIT PROPOSED AMENDMENT NO. 1 This amendment allows the City Council to vote upon ordinances and resolutions by consent agenda, and deletes the requirement of reading captions, so long as the official number assigned to the ordinance or resolution is read aloud. THE AMENDMENT OF the Pearland Charter, Section 3.10, PROCEDURES FOR PASSING OF ORDINANCES OR RESOLUTIONS, to read as follows: "...The reading aloud of the titic and caption of official number assigned to the ordinance or resolution by the city secretary shall suffice as a reading, provided printed copies of the ordinance or resolution in the form required for adoption are available to all members of the city council and a reasonable number of additional copies are available to all interested citizens present at the session. The city council may address selected items by consent agenda in the absence of any objection by council...." [underlined portions ADDED; stricken portion DELETED] PROPOSED AMENDMENT NO. 2 This amendment establishes the City's annual election dates in accordance with state law. THE AMENDMENT OF the Pearland Charter, Section 5.01, REGULAR ELECTIONS, to read as follows: City elections shall be held at a time established by state law." [underlined portion ADDED; stricken portion DELETED] PROPOSED AMENDMENT NO. 3 This amendment corrects information required in a recall petition, in accordance with state law. THE AMENDMENT OF the Pearland Charter, Section 6.03, PETITION FOR RECALL, to read as follows: "...The printed name of each signer must appear on the petition. Each signer of such recall pctition shall personally sign his/her name thereto in ink name of strcct, and num-bcr, er plaec of Fe,, denccc, and shall also write and date the petition, specifying the day, month and year. The signer must provide his/her voter registration number and county of registration. The signer must also include his/her address including the street name, number and zip code." [underlined portions ADDED; stricken portion DELETED] PROPOSED AMENDMENT NO. 4 This amendment establishes the City Council's ministerial duty to call a recall election and repeals the section of the Charter granting a Brazoria County judge this authority. THE AMENDMENT OF the Pearland Charter, REPEALING Section 6.12, FAILURE OF CITY COUNCIL TO CALL AN ELECTION, and AMENDING Section 6.08, ELECTION TO BE CALLED, to read as follows: "If the officer whose removal is sought does not resign, then it shall become the ministerial duty of the city council to order an election, and fix a date for holding such recall election, and discharge any other duties imposed upon said council by the provisions of this Charter and state law. The date for the election shall be ordered and held in a timely manner as prescribed by the general election laws of the State of Texas." [underlined portions ADDED; stricken portion DELETED] PROPOSED AMENDMENT NO. 5 This amendment allows the proposed budget for an upcoming fiscal year to go into effect automatically if it does not pass formally by vote of Council prior to the beginning of said fiscal year to ensure that the City's effective tax rate calculations remain in compliance with state law, after which time, the City Council may amend said budget. THE AMENDMENT OF the Pearland Charter, Section 8.10, DATE OF FINAL ADOPTION, to read as follows: "The budget shall be finally adopted no later than fifteen (15) days prior to the beginning of the fiscal year and should the city council fail to so adopt a budget, than oxisting budget, togothor with ids tax levying ordinance and its a opriation erdinanse, shall be deemed adopted the budget proposed by the city manager shall go into effect for the ensuing fiscal year." [underlined portion ADDED; stricken portion DELETED] PROPOSED AMENDMENT NO. 6 This amendment clarifies the City Manager's authority to transfer appropriations among line items within the same department without prior Council approval, so long as the total department budget is not affected and the City Council is notified of such transfers. THE AMENDMENT OF the Pearland Charter, Section 8.17, PURCHASE PROCEDURE, to ADD language as follows: "...Nothing herein shall prohibit the city manager or his designee from transferring part or all of any unencumbered appropriation balances among programs within a department or organizational unit during the fiscal year without prior approval of city council, so long as the total department budget is not affected and such transfers are reported to the city council within seven (7) days of said transfer."