Making Sense of the Upcoming LG Charter Election Propositions
As a Home-Rule Municipality, the City of La Grange has a Charter, which is a source of authority and a limitation on some governmental powers. The Charter establishes a framework for how the City’s government is structured and provides guidelines beyond those generally-applicable in state law. The City’s Home-Rule status was granted by the voters, which approved the Charter, and periodically approve amendments to the Charter. The La Grange City Council is asking the voters to approve a set of amendments at a Special Election on May 1, with Early Voting starting on April 19. Voters are allowed to approve all, some, or none of the propositions.
The amendments to the Charter are proposed for varied reasons. In some instances, the Charter’s language simply needs to be updated to reflect current statutory language, or to conform to recent changes in state law. For example, Prop. A acknowledges that recent legislation makes it difficult to unilaterally annex property into the City Limits without the property owner’s consent, and eliminates language referring to consent. Prop. B removes an antiquated prohibition on candidates being indebted to the City, which has been struck-down by state courts elsewhere. Prop. C strikes unenforceable wording about compelling attendance of city council members. Prop. H simplifies the criteria for candidates by referring to the Texas Elections Code, which changes periodically.
Other propositions are intended to remove limitations on opportunities to serve the City in certain positions. Prop. D removes the residency requirement for the Chief of Police, which enables the City Council to negotiate with applicants a minimum response time or another deadline to comply with the residency requirement. Prop. E removes a requirement interpreted to mean that the City Attorney must have a law firm in the City Limits, leaving that factor to be optional. Prop. F deletes the reference to a Utilities Department Manager, a position that no longer exists and is not needed. Prop. G removes the residency requirement for the Judge of the Municipal Court.
The Charter Amendments include modifications addressing Recall of the Mayor and City Council. Prop. I prevents a petition for Recall from being filed sooner than 6 months after the member was most recently elected. Prop. K corrects the effective duration of filed petitions to 180 days instead of the incorrect 45 days in order to conform with the Texas Election Code. Prop. L makes the timing of elections the state’s two uniform election dates according to the Texas Election Code. Prop. M clarifies that elections for recall of a City Council Member do not have to be held in the member’s district but that petitioners and voters in that recall are limited to voters from the member’s district. In terms of Referendums to overturn an ordinance approved by the City Council, Prop. N requires petitions to be filed within 30 days and excludes zoning, personnel, and administrative matters. If the voters approve an ordinance through Initiative, Prop. O prevents the City Council from repealing or amending that ordinance within one year unless required by law.
There are propositions that are non-substantive clean up items fixing wording of the Charter without altering the meaning. Prop. J clarifies that the referred section is about the Mayor. Prop. P removes a deadline for budget submittals by the City Manager in recognition of the new deadlines and procedures adopted in 2019 by the Texas Legislature. Prop. Q repeals language that is no longer applicable because it referred to procedural matters regarding the adoption of the original Charter. Prop. R removes gender-specific language. Prop. S repeals and replaces outdated legal citations.