Photo by Noah Dawson
On the agenda for the upcoming April 9th Amarillo City Council meeting is a discussion item regarding the potential for a city charter amendment election.
The Amarillo City Charter was adopted in 1913 and has been amended several times, most recently in 2020 when voters approved a measure to reduce the number of required city council meetings per year.
The agenda item does not list any specific proposals regarding what changes the council will discuss, though any specifics would have to first be approved with an action item by the council at a later meeting before being approved by voters at the ballot, which would likely be during the upcoming November general election. The item follows a recent meeting where the council discussed the Charter and Governance & Ends Policies, though that meeting was mostly focused on the Governance & Ends Policies.
While we don’t have any hints as to what might be in store for a charter amendment election (we asked Councilman Tom Scherlen, who did not provide any hints), we did ask all of the candidates in the 2023 election where they stood on two often proposed changes: electing city council using single-member districts and moving city council elections to November. Here is where the current council said they stood when we asked last year:
Mayor Cole Stanley
Q: Do you support moving municipal elections to November of even-numbered years? Please explain.
A: Yes. It would increase the number of voters that we have turnout and improve upon our representative government
Q: Do you support single-member districts for City Council representation? Please explain.
A: I would like to add 2 additional members to our council. Then I would quadrant the city into 4 precincts so that we have 4 smd and 3 at large
Councilman Place 1 Josh Craft
Q: Do you support moving municipal elections to November of even-numbered years? Please explain.
A: I would support it. Moving the election dates during national & statewide elections would improve voter turnout. Although, it could have the potential to cause voter burn out. During November elections. There are many statewide issues and positions to research before voting. Adding municipal races down the ballot, could risk voters not completing ballots, or even recognizing our local candidates.
Q: Do you support single-member districts for City Council representation? Please explain.
A: Currently, I am not for, or against, single-member districts. The job now is to represent, and do what is best for Amarillo as a whole. That is what I plan to do, if elected.
Councilman Place 2 Don Tipps
Q: Do you support moving municipal elections to November of even-numbered years? Please explain.
A: I believe we would have a much better turnout if our elections were held in November with general elections. I support such a move to allow more citizens to cast their vote. Ultimately, I believe it is the voters choice; but would support such a motion to move our elections to November.
Q: Do you support single-member districts for City Council representation? Please explain.
A: I believe there are both pros and cons to single member districts. The biggest advantage to them would be guaranteed representation from all areas of the city. In saying that, I feel any candidate running for office, or fit to run for office, should be unbiased as to what part of the city they live and represent the city as a whole. Voters should get to know the candidates and vote for the ones they feel would represent ALL areas of our city. The negative to single member districts is participation. We may have great, qualified candidates to run; but are limited by where they live. We want the best, most qualified people on our council. Regardless of how I feel about the single-member districts, I believe we should allow the voters to decide by putting it on the ballot.
Councilman Place 3 Tom Scherlen
Q: Do you support moving municipal elections to November of even-numbered years? Please explain.
A: Yes, we would get a better representation of the citizens voting to correlate with our National elections.
Q: Do you support single-member districts for City Council representation? Please explain.
A: I believe in a combination of both systems, we need people to represent each district as well as a group that oversees the whole City. I think we could create an informed government with total representation.
Councilman Place 4 Les Simpson
Q: Do you support moving municipal elections to November of even-numbered years? Please explain.
A: I don’t see any problem with the current date and it’s not a topic that citizens have indicated any concern about to me.
Q: Do you support single-member districts for City Council representation? Please explain.
A: Is there a city that has switched to single-member districts and felt they had better governance? Is there evidence that supports that? In reality, it does just the opposite by giving more control to a smaller segment of the community and causes further division. The best system is where every citizen gets to vote for every candidate and every candidate faces every voter. Limiting candidates for voters could be a mistake and I would not support a change.
The council meeting is set to begin at 3:00 pm on Tuesday, April 9th in the Council Chamber in City Hall. The full agenda and agenda packet can be found at this link. Those interested in speaking during the meeting are encouraged to sign up at this link.