04-14-12 Special Meeting of La Porte City Council (council retreat)

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PARTI-CHARTER CHARTER COMPARATIVE TABLE State law reference— Uniform election dates, V.T.C.A., Election Code § 41.001. 2.04. - Vacancies in city council. a. Candidacy elsewhere. If the mayor or any councilperson shall announce his candidacy, or shall in fact become a candidate, in any general, special or primary election for any office of profit or trust under this Charter or the laws of Texas or the United States, other than the office he has held, at any time when the unexpired term of the office then held shall exceed one year, such announcement or such candidacy shall constitute an automatic resignation of the office then held. b. Procedure. When a vacancy occurs for any reason in the office of mayor or councilperson, council shall call a special election within one hundred twenty (120) days. At said election the vacant office or offices shall be filled under the provisions of this Charter. c. Filing for office. Each candidate for public office must: 1. Be a qualified voter in the city. 2. File sworn application with the city secretary at least thirty (30) days prior to the election date. 3. Post the required filing fee: For mayor: Not to exceed the sum of one hundred dollars ($100.00). For councilperson: Not to exceed the sum of fifty dollars ($50.00). The filing fees shall be used to defray the cost of the election and said fee shall be prorated and any surplus shall be refunded to said candidates. In lieu of posting such fee, a candidate may submit a petition requesting that his name be placed on the ballot. Said petition shall bear a number of signatures of qualified electors who are residents of the city, which number shall not be less than five (5) percent of the total vote cast at the most recent regular election in which a councilperson was elected or fifty (50), whichever is the lesser number. Each signer shall indicate his address and the number and county of his voter registration certificate. 4. File for only one city office. d. Official ballots. The full names of all candidates for mayor or council as hereinbefore provided, except such as may have withdrawn, died or become ineligible, shall be printed on the official ballots without party designations. If two (2) candidates with the same surnames, or with names so similar as to be likely to cause confusion, file for office, their occupations or the addresses of their places of residence shall be placed with their names on the ballots. The order of the names on the ballot shall be determined by lot. e. Canvassing elections. Returns of the elections, general and special, shall be made by the election officers to council promptly following said election, at which time council shall canvass and declare the results of such election. 2.05. - Compensation. Each councilperson and the mayor shall receive for his services a salary in an amount determined by the council, not to exceed the sum of twenty-four hundred dollars ($2,400.00) per year for the mayor, La Porte, Texas, Code of Ordinances Page 7 of 32