E-mail Story
Print Friendly
Send E-mail
Reprint story
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Charter Changes on Council Agenda
By Dan McKay
Journal Staff Writer
The City Charter could get a tuneup this fall.
Mayor Martin Chávez and city councilors are reviewing a task force report suggesting a host of changes to the charter, which serves as the constitution for city government.
The recommendations call for making the city clerk more independent, establishing a process for resolving mayor-council power struggles and making it easier to raise the salaries of elected officials.
Chávez and councilors aren't bound by the recommendations. Whatever changes they craft will go on the Oct. 6 ballot.
The task force has recommended:
n Making the clerk more independent of the mayoral administration. The clerk is now hired and fired by the administration.
The task force recommends that the clerk be selected after a competitive hiring process overseen by the mayor. The appointment would have to be approved by two-thirds of the council.
Also, it would be difficult to remove a clerk in the middle of a mayoral term.
Chávez said he supports the idea and noted that he has proposed a more independent clerk in legislation to the council.
The clerk runs elections and handles other record-keeping and legal work.
n That the city establish a conference committee to resolve disputes between the mayor and council over who has authority to do what under the City Charter. The mayor and council would each appoint a member to the committee. Those two would select the third member to serve as chair.
n That a citizens' committee determine the salaries of the mayor and councilors.
Chávez opposes the idea and called it a "sneaky way to get pay raises." Increased salaries, he said, should go on the ballot.
Councilor Debbie O'Malley, meanwhile, said councilors, who make about $9,000 a year, should be paid more. But she said she hasn't decided whether the citizen commission idea is the way to go. "I think the councilors should get a comparable raise to other cities with similar budgets," O'Malley said.
The charter amendments are on today's City Council agenda.
You also can send comments via our comment form
|
|
