1979-09-19 Regular Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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• Regular Meeting 9/19/79 3 4. JOINT PUBLIC HEARING WITH CHARTER REVISION COMMITTEE (CONTINUED) Mr. Robert Daniel asked the Mayor to explain how the districts were planned because there might be some people there that did not understand. Mayor Meza asked Mr. Daniel to explain since he was on the Committee. Mr. Daniel said there were some things that he did not know and. he was hopint that someone else would explain. The Attorney explained that the Gail Hamilton, Assistant City Attorney had been working on the proposed Charter Revision and had planned to be present; however, she was ill and was not able to be there. So he would try to give an overview on how it would work. The present home rule Charter was adopted thirty years ago. We have a Commission form of government. We have a Mayor .and four Commissioners. The duties of the four Commissioners are assigned by the Charter; Fire and Police, Streets and .Public Works, Water and Sewer, Health and Recreation. The first City to have this form of government was Galveston. It • is now the opinion of many that it is no longer the most efficient form of government for a growing city. The more efficient trend is the City Manager/Mayor/Council form of government. Modeled after a typical business corporation. The entire City Council would be setting policy, comparable to the board of directors of a corporation. The City Manager is comparable to the Chief .Executive. The citizens are the stock holders. The City Council sets policy, does advance planning. The City Manager is professionally trained, most would have a college degree. It would be the job of the City Manager to carry out and execute on a day to day basis the policy the Council has established. Our present Commission is a five member Commission. The Charter Revision Committee was of the opinion that the City would be better served by a larger committee of seven persons. This would be the Mayor and six Council persons. To make any amendment to the Charter in the State of Texas,. Texas being under the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended in 1973, anything effecting voting must have clearance from the Justice Department. As shown in the Houston, the Justice Department wants a balance between at large positions and district positions. At large, would be anywhere within the City and by district, would be that you live within the district that you represent or vote for. The proposed plan would have four single member districts. The candidate must reside within the confines of the district at the time of his election and he must remain there throughout his term of office.