TAYLOR CHARTER COMMISSION
How long a person can serve on City Council, what they should be paid and residency requirements are among the issues Taylor’s Charter Review Commission is tackling.
The latest meeting — the commission’s second in a series — took place March 16 at the Taylor Public Library, 801 Vance St.
The first meeting was to get organized. The latest session involved a deep dive into the 19-page document providing the foundation for city government.
The advisory board took on the first four articles of the city charter, covering the city’s powers and elective positions.
Commission members mulled four-year term limits for council members and the mayor, increasing residency requirements in light of population growth and codifying the amount council members and the mayor are paid.
Vice Chairman Gary Gola also recommended a measure for determining when the number of council representatives should be increased.
“It’s pretty easy to concentrate power when you only need to get two people to agree with you. I personally would like to dilute that concentration of power,” Gola said.
Other members agreed that as the city grows, a larger council may be needed.
Gola noted neighboring cities have larger councils.
The current council has five members representing about 18,000 inhabitants.
The board discussed the pros and cons of additional seats being elected as at-large representatives, and whether the trigger for increasing the size of the council would be contingent on reaching a percentage of growth or a population number.
Another consideration was whether the city would have enough qualified people to fulfill the positions if the number of seats were increased.
“It’s really hard to get good people to serve on City Council. Even now it becomes harder to get people who are willing and qualified to serve,” said Chairman John McDonald.
Attorney Charlie Zech with Denton, Navarro, Rodriguez, Bernal, Santee & Zech PC is the legal counsel for the group.
Zech advised members to table some of the bigger discussions until later in the process, after they’ve gone through the charter and made the small changes so they don’t get “bogged down” early on.
As the meeting progress, he will present potential amendments to the group to start more detailed discussions.
Zech said one amendment could be an umbrella action to clear up any inconsistencies or redundancies already in the charter.
For example, part of the charter says the mayor will be chosen by council members while another portion says the mayor will be elected by voters. A ballot measure in 2024 changed the process where fellow council members appointed a mayor from within their ranks on the dais and made it an at-large position selected by voters.
Any suggested changes to the charter will go before the council, which will then be asked to call a vote and put the measures on the Nov. 3 ballot.
The commission meets 6 p.m. the first and third Monday of each month at the library, with sessions open to the public.
