Farmers Branch Charter Panel Wraps Up: Resignation Penalty, Smaller Quorum and More
The Charter Review Committee holds its final review tonight. Approved proposals would bar mid-term quitters from council for up to six years and cut the quorum from four to three.
Farmers Branch's Charter Review Committee meets tonight to finish its work. It will settle the list of amendments to the city's charter, the city's founding document, that it will send to the City Council.
The committee meets at 6 p.m. today, Wednesday, Oct. 21, in the Training Hub at City Hall, 13000 Wm Dodson Pkwy., according to the agenda. Members are scheduled to conduct "a final review of the proposed Charter amendments" and confirm the full list of recommendations. They will also discuss council governance and prepare a final message to the council.
What the committee has approved
A tracking sheet in the meeting materials, updated through Sept. 16, lists 18 tracked items. Some of the proposals that have passed would change how City Hall works.
A penalty for quitting. Under a proposed new provision, a council member who voluntarily resigns with more than 12 months left in the term could not run for or hold a council seat for up to six years. Resigning by operation of law, such as announcing a run for another office, would not count. The sheet records the vote as 19-1.
A smaller quorum. The quorum needed to do business would drop from four council members to three, not counting the mayor. The sheet also adds electronic voting as an option. The vote is listed as 14-1.
The judge and the lawyer. The council could remove the municipal court judge "at will," an item that passed by majority. A new section on the city attorney would put appointment directly with the council. It would allow removal by four votes, with the mayor voting, and allow the city to hire an in-house attorney or outside counsel. The Sept. 16 minutes say that section passed 14-1. They describe the change as moving appointment and removal power away from the current arrangement, in which the city manager manages the attorney's contract. A related wording change and the section's number are still pending.
A transit committee. At least two years before any deadline to call an election on the city's role in a regional transit system, the council would have to appoint a seven-member Transit Committee with two alternates. That committee would make recommendations at least 60 days before the deadline. The minutes record the vote as 13-2, with members Bagby and Flower voting no. The tracking sheet lists it as "Carried, 1 opposed."
Other approved changes are smaller. Two years of service would count as a full term. A reference to the federal case Fabela v. City of Farmers Branch would come out of the section on the city's five council districts. Future review committees would have up to three members appointed by each council member, including the mayor.
The original Farmers Branch railroad depot, built around 1877, in 2013. Photo: Larry D. Moore / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.
What did not make it
A second document tracks topics the council and committee members raised. A proposal to add an at-large District 6 seat failed 4-11 on Sept. 16. The minutes say members discussed the city's earlier lawsuit over single-member districts and the risk of new litigation. Moving city elections from May to November did not advance either. In an informal show of hands, 4 members favored studying it further and 12 favored keeping May elections.
The committee also chose not to put several requests in the charter. Those included rules on executive sessions, remote attendance, an independent ethics commission and mandatory council training. In most of those cases, the committee said the city's Code of Ethics or Code of Ordinances, or the council's rules of procedure, could handle the matter.
Why it matters
Charter amendments go to voters, and the minutes describe these recommendations as headed "for placement on the ballot." Lowering a quorum or tightening the council's hold on the judge and the city attorney are not housekeeping. Residents should read them closely before they ever reach a ballot.
Residents can speak during public comments at the start of tonight's meeting. The Sept. 16 minutes say a full video of that meeting is posted on the city's website.
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