Photo by Noah Dawson
Amarillo voters might be weighing some major changes to the Amarillo City Charter in November.
A committee appointed by Amarillo City Council has met weekly over the last month hammering out a series of proposed amendments to the Amarillo City Charter. That committee will have its final meeting on Thursday, June 27th, where they are expected to formalize their recommendations for amendments to the city charter.
Among the changes discussed is a major overhaul of city council elections. If the proposals pass in November, voters in next year’s May election will have two new seats on Amarillo City Council to fill. They will also be electing the Mayor and three of the councilmembers for four year terms, rather than the two year terms currently in place. The other three seats will be up for two year terms, though, when those seats are up for re-election in 2029, they will move to four-year terms. This proposal is similar to one put forward by current members of Amarillo City Council, though Mayor Cole Stanley has pushed a variation where the Mayor would still be a subject to a two-year term.
In addition to new council seats and longer terms, three seats on the council will be subject to new residency requirements. The city will be split into three geographic areas. This will likely include a region in the western part of the city, a region in the southern part of the city, and a region in the northeastern part of the city. City Council Places 2, 4, and 6 will each be assigned to one of these areas. Candidates for each of those seats must live in a specified geographic area, though all voters in the city will get to vote on who gets elected to the seat.
Another proposed change would limit the number of consecutive years one could hold an elected city office to eight years, at which point they must take at least two years off before running again. If passed along with the four-year terms proposal, this would effectively limit the mayor and council to two terms.
In addition to changes to how council members are elected, the committee is also set to make changes to how council members are removed from office. After first expressing hesitancy towards changing recall requirements, the committee reached consensus on reducing the number of signatures from 30% of registered voters. Two proposals were offered, with one being for only 30% of the number of voters in the most recent city election and the other being 7.5% of registered voters. Currently, either would result in needing 7,000 signatures to initiate a recall election for a member of the council. Additionally, an existing requirement that one-fifth of signatories certify that they voted for the person to be recalled will be dropped. The committee did not reach a consensus on whether the current timeframe of 30 days to collect signatures should be expanded, though they are expected to come to a decision on Thursday.
One notable change the committee declined to go forward with was a proposal to have Amarillo City Council appoint the City Attorney. Currently, the only offices appointed directly by the council are the City Manager and Municipal Court Judge. Most other cities in the state have the position of City Attorney appointed by their councils.
While the committee is set to finalize their recommendations on Thursday, the proposals will still have to be accepted by Amarillo City Council, who will place the items on the ballot for voter approval in November.