KYLE — The city of Kyle Charter Review Commission convened Feb. 24 to approve previous changes from its last meeting and continue to discuss the city’s charter with articles four and five.
The meeting began with the commission reviewing changes made at the Feb. 10 meeting.
City attorney Aimee Alcorn-Reed presented changes in section 1.07 Annexation and Disannexation, which replaced existing language with “The city council shall have full power to change the boundaries of the city through annexation or disannexation in accordance with state law” after discussing that the original wording went against changes made in the legislature.
The commission approved the change 6-0. Commissioner Tim McHutchion was not in attendance.
Regarding section 3.05 City Council Judge of its Members, the commissioners originally proposed changing the removal of a council member from six votes to five. An additional change made by Alcorn-Reed was to add “except for the city manager” in the language.
“Without the city manager being referenced there it says, ‘Officers or employees of the city appointed directly by council may be removed by majority vote of the council at any time’ and that would be in conflict with section 7.01 which requires a five vote to remove the city manager,” said Alcorn-Reed. “So, we would either need to change 7.01 or change this one. My recommendation was to change this one [and] keep it consistent.”
Commissioner Lila Knight was the only dissenting vote, with the motion to approve as presented passing 5-1. She requested to add the word “final” into the language in regards to conviction or misdemeanors.
Additionally, the previous changes proposed to sections 3.03 Term Limits, 3.06 Quorum and Attendance and 3.08 Voting were approved 6-0.
The commission also discussed the council credit card system in 3.09 Compensation, where the language reads, “The city council by ordinance shall provide a method for determining what expenses are eligible for reimbursement or other payment by the city,” which Alcorn-Reed explained is determined by the credit card policy.
“I’m honestly in the opinion of doing away with credit cards because there’s been so much controversy over them and just say straight, ‘You put in a reimbursement as you would for any kind of business entity period,’” said commissioner Diane Hervol.
Despite Hervol’s hesitation, the motion to approve the section was approved 6-0.
Next, the commission discussed articles four and five. According to agenda documents, the commission may recommend changes to any of the provisions of the articles presented by Alcorn-Reed.
Article four consists of mayor, mayor pro tem, the city council, duties of officers and employees, prohibitions, ordinances, emergency ordinances and resolutions and minute orders.
Section 4.03 The City Council currently lists a majority vote to appoint, supervise and remove the city manager and confirm dismissal of the finance director. Alcorn-Reed suggested moving the finance director to be with the city attorney, municipal judge and associate municipal judges because “it would make more sense,” as those people are also dealt with by council appointment.
“I believe that dismissal of the director of finance should, as well as the city manager, should be by an affirmative vote of five members of council. The finance director is very key to the city,” said Knight.
Alcorn-Reed then asked if the commission would also like council to be involved with the hiring of the finance director because currently, the city manager hires and appoints the director, but the charter gives power to dismiss to council.
“I would like to see them independent,” said Hervol.
Ultimately, the commission opted to table the discussion until its next meeting, as members felt as though they needed more time to think on the decision.
Alcorn-Reed noted that she will clean up some of the other explanations within the section for clarity and consistency.
Section 4.04 Duties of Officers and Employees is less flexible than state law, as any personnel policies must be approved by council, while state law allows the city manager to approve it.
“I’m okay with not concentrating power on an individual,” said commissioner Hannah Foarde, agreeing with Hervol, who suggested that this was probably put in place to prevent the city manager from having so much power.
“The council may, not inconsistent with this charter, require other and further duties of any appointed officer or employee whose duties are prescribed herein, and may define, prescribe and change the duties of any appointed officer or employee as in its judgment be best for the public interest,” reads 4.04.
According to the attorney, this wording alludes to the fact that council can manage any city employee: “That feels like they could take an individual employee and say, ‘I know you were hired to do X, but we think as the council that you should do Y. So, now we’re imposing ourselves over the city manager’s decision for you to do X.’”
This would go against 4.05 Prohibitions, which states that city council will not interfere within the depths of the organization, said Alcorn-Reed.
The commissioners discussed several ideas to make the two sections align, rather than juxtapose each other, such as removing lines or altering language. Instead, they agreed to allow the attorney to alter it on her own and bring it back for approval at the next meeting.
Alcorn-Reed suggested adding election items to 4.06 Ordinances because this would be the preferred method. Additionally, she noted that the charter does not specify how an ordinance must be published, such as online or in the paper of record, only that it needs to be published. The commissioners decided to suggest the election items be moved to the ordinances section, while the attorney would “work on” language for the publishing portion.
“It’s cumbersome. It’s very difficult to pass an emergency ordinance” said Alcorn-Reed. “It might be nice to have an emergency ordinance that might be a little less cumbersome.”
Knight, along with David Glickler, suggested simply adjusting the charter to say “in accordance with state law,” which removes unnecessary language and requirements,
For 4.08 Resolutions and Minutes, it was a “quick fix,” said Foarde, as the commissioners altered the title of the section to remove “minute orders.”
Next, article five of the charter consists of notice and order for election, general elections, special elections, conduct of elections, filing for office, polling places, official ballots, voters and voting, election by majority, canvassing, run-off election and term of office.
The following changes were made in article five:
• 5.02 General (a) to be shortened to say “uniform election date in November”
• To update 5.02 General Elections (b) to be relevant to current day, as it was initially added to specify information about a 2016 election
• Remove all wording for 5.04 Conduct of Elections except for the first sentence
• Add similar language to “ … as required by ordinance or other applicable law” to 5.05 Filing for Office (d)
• Remove the requirement for city hall to be a polling place and instead have “a city-owned facility” 5.06 Polling Places
• Simplify (a) and (d) in 5.07 Official Ballots
• Clarify requirements in 5.08 Voters and Voting for single-member district elections by adding “only registered voters residing in a single-member district may vote in that election”
• Clarify 5.09 Election by Majority
• Shorten 5.12 Term of Office
The commission will meet next Monday, March 10, to discuss articles six and seven.
