Charter Propositions

Here’s a link to the existing charter.  http://www.ci.watauga.tx.us/DocumentCenter/View/1039

Proposition 1:  I’m for this.

As the Charter reads now, a sitting Councilperson must resign their seat to run for Mayor.  This is needlessly stringent.  Running for office in a small town like ours really isn’t a big burden.  One could do so and still satisfy all of the requirements of a Councilperson.

Proposition 2:  I’m for this.

I can see an argument for possibly keeping this one, though I tend towards freedom rather than not.  If someone has more than a year left in their term and wants to run for State Rep or something, they have to give up their spot.

Proposition 3:  I’m for this.

Regular Council meetings are held in the Council Chambers.  Special meetings, as the Charter dictate now, are not able to be held anywhere outside of the City.  This would allow the Council to attend a School Board Meeting in Keller (for KISD) or somewhere else for BISD.  I had this amended to say that if such a meeting were held outside of the City, that a visual or audible recording be made for the meeting to ensure that there was some transparency even at these off-site meetings.

I think the biggest argument against this might be if a special meeting were somewhere that tax-payers couldn’t get to without onerous constraints.  Our previous City Manager had wanted this repealed so that there could be a Staff/Council retreat out of the City of Watauga.  This amendment would open up that possibility.  I’d not necessarily be against that, but I know it’s met with open hostility in some other places.

Proposition 4:  I’m for this.

The existing Charter says that the Mayor has veto power and describes no limits to what he might veto.  Our previous Mayor chose to use that veto power on a request by Council to change the order of the agenda.  While arguably, this was within his purview, the political price for the future is that the veto power is now limited to “ordinances and resolutions”.

Proposition 5:  I’m for this.

The City Secretary works for Council.  Not the City Manager.  Apparently there have been issues with this command structure under previous management and not just for our existing City Secretary.

To be clear, none of these are mandated by changes in State law and the changes they represent, while note-worthy, do little to change the real structure of the way the City management is run.