Nolanville Votes on Nine Charter Changes, From Term Limits to Filling Vacancies

This is a preview. Nolanville voters decide these questions on Tuesday, Nov. 3, and no results are in yet.

Nolanville voters will decide nine changes to their city charter on Tuesday, including new rules for term limits, for filling empty council seats and for what happens when a council member keeps missing meetings.

The charter is the city's local constitution. According to the city's election ordinance, voters adopted it in 2010 and last amended it in 2020. The charter requires the council to appoint a Charter Review Committee in the third year after adoption and every sixth year after that. This year's committee recommended changes, and the council sent nine of them to the ballot.

The same ballot carries the city's regular election. The city's notice of election, issued Aug. 6, lists races for mayor and council Seats 1 and 3, each for a two-year term.

The biggest changes

Proposition 6 would change how vacancies are filled. Under the charter now posted on the city's website, the remaining council members may appoint someone to serve until the next election, but if more than a year remains on the seat, the city must call a special election. The amendment would require the council to fill a vacancy for mayor or council within 90 days. The appointee would serve until the next regular November city election, when voters would choose someone for the rest of the term, if any remains.

Proposition 7 would rewrite term limits. The current charter says no one may serve more than four consecutive two-year terms in one office. The amendment would limit a person to four two-year terms in any one office whether or not they are consecutive. By our math, that caps service in a single office at eight years. Time spent in an appointed seat would not count, and the limits would apply separately to each office.

Propositions 4 and 5 deal with absences and forfeiture. Today a council member or the mayor forfeits the office after missing three consecutive regular meetings without being excused by the council. Under Proposition 4, three straight absences would go to the council, which could decide whether they were excused and take action, including forfeiture. Proposition 5 would make the council the final authority on whether a forfeiture has happened and when it takes effect.

Part of the U.S. Geological Survey's 2010 topographic map of the Nolanville quadrangle. Photo: U.S. Geological Survey / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.

The other five

Proposition 1 would delete the section that lets the council create up to four wards. Removing it would end that option in the charter.

Proposition 2 would measure the 12-month residency requirement for mayor and council candidates from the filing deadline instead of from the date of the election or appointment.

Proposition 3 would remove the mayor's power to appoint members of citizen advisory boards and commissions with the council's consent. The ordinance says the change would eliminate conflicting language in the charter. The mayor would still preside over the council, vote only to break ties and have no veto.

Proposition 8 would remove the requirement to publish franchise ordinances in the city's official newspaper. Today the charter requires the caption to run at least twice, with the franchise's proponents paying for it. Franchise ordinances still could not take effect until at least 30 days after passage.

Proposition 9 would give the council 60 days instead of 30 to repeal an ordinance challenged by a referendum petition or send it to voters, or the next uniform election date if none falls within 60 days. The ordinance says the change matches other parts of the charter.

Where to vote

Early voting has ended. On Election Day, the polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. The city's notice lists Nolanville City Hall, 101 N. 5th Street, as the polling place for Precinct 111. Bell County's elections department runs the election.

Our view

None of these propositions will make headlines outside Bell County, but a charter is how a town governs itself, and small changes add up. Nolanville deserves credit for following its own rule to review the charter on a schedule and bring the results to voters, as cities like Gainesville and Terrell are doing this fall.

Voters should read Propositions 6 and 7 closely. Filling a seat by appointment within 90 days keeps the council working, but it also means some residents would wait longer to choose their own representative when a seat opens with more than a year left. Ending the consecutive-term loophole is a sound check on power. Self-government works best when the people read the fine print and vote on it.