Amarillo City Council discusses possible changes to city charter, forming committee
The Amarillo City Council hosted a work session early Thursday to discuss amendments to the city charter.
Discussion among council members included possible changes to the charter that may involve increasing council terms, staggering elections, increasing council at-large seats and changes in procedures for city council. At the last meeting, nominations were made to create a 12-member committee, including council members Tom Scherlen, Les Simpson, and 10 community members, to review the city charter to produce possible changes to be sent for voter approval.
When discussing increasing the number of seats on the committee, councilmember Don Tipps and a member of the consulting team wrote opposition due to possible legal challenges that could ask for single-member districts. Although there seems to be a consensus on creating more seats, there was no mention of moving to single-member districts at the meeting.
There will be multiple meetings with council members before any potential changes are proposed to the city's charter for amendment to be put forth for voter approval.
Councilmember Simpson weighed in on Thursday's workshop session and the issues brought up during the meeting.
“I thought today was extremely productive, to just get into the issues that we may choose to make changes to in the city charter,” Simpson said. "I was impressed with Baker Tilly's consultation and guidance. They were very direct and to the point, with a lot of education that we do not have on the subject. We just really do not know what we do not know. They provide a lot of experience from their work across the country.”
“This has given us a lot to discuss to guide the charter commission in looking at ways to improve how the city governs,” he said. "This will help to fine-tune the governance and end policy that we have worked on and get a different set of eyes to look at that as well."
Scherlen stressed that this was just the first step to having the charter committee being able to make necessary changes to make the city run more efficiently.
“We got a direction with a few high points that we can give to that committee,” Scherlen said. “I would not want the council to get in the way of the charter committee’s business. I am glad that we brought up some significant topics, but I do not want the committee to feel like these are the ways that they have to do. I want the committee to bring meaningful changes to the council with the charter."
Scherlen said he was very pleased with Baker Tilly's guidance and was very emphatic that the city council needs more members to represent the whole city.
“We want to bring positive change to the charter, and I think they are an asset,” Scherlen said. “You can never go wrong with having more diverse voices to represent the city's citizens. With more representation, the citizens have more of a voice and have easier access to more council members. I think we will better serve the entire community with more time spent with each citizen. All councilmembers outside of myself have full-time jobs, giving all citizens better access to presentation."
Mayor Cole Stanley thought the work session was very productive in moving forward with the charter committee revisions.
Stanley thought concern over creating more seats causing possible legal issues was not any more of an issue than it already is.
“We have asked for a legal opinion on this, but I do not think there is a hard, fast rule that we are in greater jeopardy with a council of seven than we are with five members,” Stanley said. “The argument against this is that if you grow the council, then you invite litigation. To me, that is no more of an impediment than it is as we are currently structured.”
Another issue brought up at the council meeting was the city attorney being appointed by the council rather than hired at will by the city manager, as well as deciding on terms for each council member to possibly have elections staggered, to not have the possibility a full turnover of the complete council in any given election.
“I just want the community to know that the council’s direction was put forward with this consultation, and they don't necessarily agree with some of the changes,” he said of the changes that were brought up during the discussion. “I think they are bringing their own expertise, and the committee of citizens is going to do a fantastic job evaluating the top priorities for potential amendments to the city charter.”
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Amarillo City Council looks at charter amendments for consideration
