After local voters in Amarillo rejected three of the four proposed charter amendments on the November ballot, there was some confusion over whether or not the only proposition that passed would go into effect.

Proposition E modifies the way the council fills vacancies and introduces a resign-to-run requirement. The proposition was largely meant to complement Proposition C, which would have moved the council from two-year terms to four-year staggered terms. Proposition E largely sought to bring other provisions in the charter in-line with state requirements for cities with terms lengths longer than two years. (You can read our full explainer of Proposition E at this link.)

However, now that Proposition C has failed and Proposition E has passed, there has been some confusion as to whether Proposition E will go into effect. It is worth noting that during the process of crafting the proposed amendments through the charter review committee and Amarillo City Council, there were discussions on making some amendments contingent on others. In particular, the council did discuss making Proposition E contingent on Proposition C.

Despite these discussions, the final text of the ordinance calling the election did not include any contingency language, and there does not appear to be anything in state law precluding Proposition E from going into effect.

“We’ll have an ordinance come forward to adopt the changes to our charter with Proposition E’s passage,” City Secretary Stephanie Coggins told MyHighPlains.com.

The council is expected to canvass the results of the local election later this month, likely during a special meeting. The council will then formally approve the Proposition E changes by ordinance, with the changes likely to go into effect at some point early next year.