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Home My Public Portal AboutCharter Review Committee Minutes 09-01-2011 Charter Review Committee Minutes September 1, 2011 Community Board Room Members Present: Chairman Bill Agan Secretary Jeffrey Ritter Member Doug Knowlton Member Loyce Greer Member Ralph Smith Member LaRue Wall Audience Present: Janece Hill Martha Strain Larry Marrs Layne Curts Jeremy Hill The meeting was called to order by Chairman Bill Agan at 7:05 PM. 1. Read and Approve minutes from last meeting (August 30, 2011). Secretary Ritter announced that the audio recording from August 30, 2011 meeting stopped at 1 hour and 27 minutes and the last few minutes were not recorded. Member Wall motioned to approve the minutes, Member Knowlton seconded. Minutes from Aug. 30, 2011 were approved with 5 unanimous votes. Member Greer was not present at the time of the vote. Secretary Ritter advised that the minutes and recorded audio from each meeting would be made available. Chairman Again stated that the City Attorney would be available for the next meeting, September 8, 2011. 2. Discuss assignment from last meeting. Secretary Ritter reported his research of Chapter 13, article 1175 and that he had sent a copy via E-Mail to each committee member. Member Knowlton indicated he did not receive the E-Mail. Member Greer arrived at 7:17 PM. Sec. 5.03 —Date of Election; Candidates to Run for Places; Places Designated Member Smith indicated we should wait until the effects of SB 100 are known before substantive discussion of this section. The committee unanimously agreed. Sec. 5.04 —Hours of Election No substantive discussion. Sec. 5.05 — Official Ballot No substantive discussion. Sec. 5.06 — Qualified Voters No substantive discussion Sec. 5.07 — Election Judges and Other Election Officials Chairman Agan explained how Tarrant County provides a list of qualified judges and the City Council chooses the election judge from that list. Members Wall and Greer indicated that the list is usually very small and that it seems that it is always the same judges each year. Members Smith and Ritter recommended that Member Wall develop proposed language to be placed in the Charter that addresses her concern. Member Smith questioned our procedure and whether or not we should be implementing changes section-by-section as we go instead of coming back to them later. Member Greer indicated that we should review our Charter first and make notes so that we can review certain sections in depth later and compare our Charter to other Cities' Charters. Member Smith indicated that some cities are much larger and different than Richland Hills and that the Committee should use caution in trying to apply other Cities' Charters to our own. Member Greer emphasized that Richland Hills' Charter needs a lot of work and tweaking to bring it up to date. Member Wall emphatically agreed. Member Greer recited the Forest Hill Preamble. Secretary Ritter indicated he had developed a sample Preamble for Richland Hills and would bring written copies for the next Committee meeting. Member Smith emphasized that the Committee should be focusing on updating the intent and structure of our Charter, and not be focusing on minor revisions in the wording of each section. Member Knowlton reminded the Committee that the Charter will be presented to the Citizens for final approval, and that the Committee must be cautious not to "overwhelm" the voters. Member Greer stated we must change whatever needs to be changed in order to present the highest quality document we can to the Council and Citizens. Chairman Agan stated that the Citizens will have to read, understand, and approve the Charter, so it is important that the Committee present a well- prepared document. Secretary Ritter polled the Committee as to which sections would require the most work thus far. The consensus of the Committee was that Sections 5.04, 5.05, 5.06 and 5.07 would most likely be governed by SB 100 and that no substantive discussion or work be done on those sections until the effects of SB 100 are fully understood. Member Wall stated she would submit proposed wording for section 5.07. Member Smith stated the Charter should ultimately vest the responsibility of appointing appropriate election judges with the City Council, as the Charter currently does. Chairman Agan stated that of any list of qualified judges the County may supply, only a very few would actually accept the job anyway. Sec. 5.08 —Judge of Election Chairman Agan and Member Greer discussed the need for the City Attorney to be present at Charter Review meetings. Chairman Agan indicated the attorney may be of help regarding legal issues, Member Greer stated the Committee was not ready for that level of legal advice at this point. Chairman Agan polled the Committee on the need for an Attorney. Member Greer stated we are not ready. Member Wall stated we are not ready yet. Secretary Ritter recommended the Committee first develop proposed wording for sections for the attorney to review. Member Smith stated we need to develop wording first. Member Knowlton stated we need to develop wording first. Member Smith recommended the Committee develop proposed wording for sections 1 through 5 and then have the attorney review those sections. The Committee unanimously agreed. Secretary Ritter recommended to include a reference to section 5.02 as to the Qualifications as determined by the Council. Member Greer recommended reworking the entire section and replacing it with wording similar to the Frisco Charter. Member Wall agreed and added that the qualifications should be in a bulleted listing format. Member Smith indicated he wasn't in agreement with complete replacement, but did agree that bulleted listings are generally much easier to understand. Member Greer recommended that in addition to bullets, references to State Law should also be included in the sections if applicable, but was reticent in the amount of time it would take to accomplish. Secretary Ritter indicated that with current technology, references to State Law or other statues could be added with relative ease. Member Smith and Member Greer recommended including any statutes or documents referenced within the Charter be included in the Charter as appendices or addenda. The Committee unanimously agreed. Sec. 5.09 —Vacancies Members Smith and Greer recommended to leave alone and wait until effects of SB 100 are known. Secretary Ritter recommended caution so as to be sure that the wording in our Charter is not in conflict with any State Law or procedures. Sec. 5.10 — City Council Meetings The Committee unanimously agreed no changes were needed. Sec. 5.11 —Absence of Mayor and Councilmembers Members Smith, Greer and Ritter discussed "may" or "shall" regarding the removal if absent from 4 consecutive meetings. Secretary Ritter recommended leaving the word "may" and vesting the decision to remove in the hands of the Council. Members Greer and Wall recommended using the word "shall" so as to be sure there are "teeth" in the ordinance. Member Greer then recommended using the word "shall" and to also include a listing of acceptable reasons for absence. Member Knowlton and Smith recommended leaving the word "may" so that the Council will be the judge of acceptable absences. No consensus was reached as to this section. The Committee agreed to discuss this further. Chairman Agan stopped discussion at 8:46 PM to allow for audience input. 3. Assignment for next meeting Secretary Ritter asked the Committee to confirm the Committee's understanding of the assignment for the next meeting. The Committee confirmed that the members will submit their proposed language for the Preamble through section 5.11. The members will each submit any proposed language for the Preamble through section 5.11 at the next meeting for discussion and consideration. 4. Public Comments Larry Marrs: 1. Recommends breaking out each revised section for election so the citizens can have the option of approving individual changes instead of an "all-or-nothing" decision. 2. Questioned whether the $10.00 per meeting stipend was a wise decision considering the financial status of the City. 3. Recommended the Charter require the Council to develop and maintain an Ethics ordinance for its members. Martha Strain: 1. Stated the County provides a list of qualified judges and that the Council should have the ability to freely choose from that list. 2. Recommended inquiring to N.C.T.C.O.G. about any available templates for use in constructing/revising a Charter. 3. Recommended the Committee simply make notes of each section on first cursory overview rather than in-depth discussion and to involve in-depth discussion on the sections that are determined to require revision at a later date after the "overview" is completed. 4. Recommended that if a Committee member has an objection to, or recommendation for any revisions of a section, that member should submit written proposed language for discussion by the Committee. 5. Adjournment Member Smith motioned to adjourn, Member Greer seconded. Motion to adjourn passed by unanimous vote. Chairman Agan adjourned the meeting at 8:53 PM. /"� Jeff Ritter-Secretary- ill Agan-Chair /