Photo by Noah Dawson
Amarillo City Council received recommendations on amending the city charter last week. During the special meeting, the council indicated that the final amendments may look different than the Charter Review Committee’s proposals.
The proposed amendments by the committee were:
Proposition A: Reduce the requirements to recall an elected city official
Proposition B: Move from two-year terms to four-year staggered terms for the Mayor and Council, as well as implement a two-term limit
Proposition C: Add two new seats to the council, as well as add requirements for three of the councilmembers to live in designated geographic areas
Proposition D: Update language regarding the powers and duties of the City Manager.
While the council seemed broadly content with Propositions A and D, there was discussion about B and C.
On Proposition B, Mayor Cole Stanley reiterated his position that the Mayor should be kept at two years while having four-year staggered terms for the council. On Proposition C, Stanley noted his priority would be to expand the size of the council and floated the idea of splitting the geographic area residency requirements portion into a separate proposition which could either be placed on the ballot this year or delayed until a future charter amendment.
The council also discussed the appointment of the city attorney. Amarillo is one of few cities in Texas where the city attorney is appointed by the city manager and not the council. The Charter Review Committee discussed changing the city attorney to an appointed position, but this was ultimately rejected by the committee.
Baker Tilly, the consulting firm hired by the city to assist with the charter review process, was tasked to draft some alternative versions of the propositions by the council. Due to the changes sought by the council, Councilman Les Simpson floated the idea of delaying having an election on the amendments until May, though the council ultimately felt it would be possible to make changes to the recommendations before the deadline to place the items on the November ballot.
The council is set to receive an update on the status of the new versions of the amendments during their upcoming regular meeting on July 23rd. The tentative plan is to have a first reading on the proposed changes during a special meeting on August 6th before having a second and final reading and calling the election during their regular meeting on August 13th.
You can read our full story detailing the recommendations made by the Charter Review Committee at this link.