Charter Review Committee Minutes - 09/23/2019 MINUTES OF THE CHARTER REVIEW COMMITTEE
September 23, 2019
Present:
Mayor Stephen Santellana § Committee Members
Councilor Jeff Browning §
Glenn Barham §
Darrell Coleman §
Michael Smith §
Paul Menzies, Assistant City Manager § City Staff
R. Kinley Hegglund, Jr., City Attorney §
Julia Vasquez, First Asst. City Attorney §
Marie Balthrop, City Clerk §
Absent:
Councilor Bobby Whiteley § Committee Member
1. Call to Order
Councilor Browning called the meeting to order at 3:05 p.m.
2. Approval of Minutes (08/26/2019)
Darrell Coleman moved to approve the minutes from August 26, 2019. The motion
was seconded by Michael Smith and it carried unanimously.
3. Workshop
Kinley Hegglund reviewed the proposed changes to Section 23 and the committee
accepted the following changes:
Sec. 23 — City Council Vacancies
If a vacancy occurs in the office of mayor or in any other place on the city council
for an inexpired term of 12 months or less, some eligible person shall may be
chosen to fill the place by a majority vote of the remaining members. Any person
chosen by the City Council to fill a vacancy therein shall continue in office as a
result of such choice only until the next regular municipal election, at which time
some person shall b�eelected to fill the office. Either for the regular term or for the
cine�(�Sr ired tercr rac tom:cacce-r'�'a he /A place city n Tciill rhT I Icr r'a--vT"wT ich
might bc hcld, by a person choscn by the city council shall bc rcgardcd as a placc
2019 Charter Committee Minutes of September 23, 2019 1
is to bc choscn to fill out an uncxpircd tcrm, candidatcs shall bc nominatcd for thc
position and thc cicction shall bc hcld as hcrcinbcforc providcd. All other
vacancies must be filled by special Election as set out by Texas law.
A discussion was held on sections 24-30 dealing with recall petitions and elections
and possibly changing the 30-day and 45-day requirements to be consistent
throughout sections concerning recall and referendum.
Mayor Santellana entered the meeting at 3:21 p.m.
Sec. 31 — Council action on recall election.
Mr. Coleman suggested removing the phrase "but subject to recall as before" at
the end of the first sentence, and the word "hereinbefore" in the last sentence.
Sec. 32 Resignation pending recall
Mr. Coleman suggested removing the word "hereinbefore" from the last sentence,
and changing Section 32 to mirror Section 31 in reference to how vacancies will
be filled.
Sec. 33 — Limitation on recall
Marie Balthrop suggested changing three (3) months to six (6) months.
No changes were suggested for sections 34 thru 37.
Sec. 38 — Mayor and councilors salaries.
A discussion was held concerning the maximum amount of compensation for the
Mayor and Councilors. Mr. Hegglund presented survey information from other
cities. The committee suggested the maximum rate of compensation be $1 ,000
per month for the Mayor, and $600 per month for Councilors.
No changes were recommended for sections 39-43.
Sec. 44 — Referendum
It was suggested the words "theretofore" and "property taxpaying" be removed
from the last sentence.
No changes were suggested for sections 45-55.
Sec. 7 — Express corporate powers.
2019 Charter Committee Minutes of September 23, 2019 2
Mr. Smith asked to revisit section 7 and suggested changing the word "police" in
subsection (r) to the words "public safety."
Councilor Browning left the meeting at 4:01 p.m.
6. Adjourn.
The next meeting will be held on October 28, 2019 at 3:00 p.m.
Mayor Santellana adjourned the meeting at 4:45 p.m.
ayor Stephen Santellana
Attest:
VVCOLu B
Marie Balthrop U
City Clerk
2019 Charter Committee Minutes of September 23, 2019 3