The Eagle Recommendations: Charters Amendments, Referendum on Bryan Ballot

Eagle Editorial Board

Bryan residents will vote on four charter amendment propositions and one referendum in the May 9 city and school elections. Three of the charter amendments are basically housekeeping in nature, but the fourth -- generated by a petition from the public -- has generated a fair amount of discussion.

The referendum involves selling 0.7819 acres of undeveloped park land made inaccessible to the public by the Villa Maria Road underpass at Wellborn and Finfeather roads. A private citizen has indicated a willingness to purchase the property, which abuts land he owns, at fair market value. Money from the sale will be used only for park projects in the same area of the city.

The Eagle recommends a vote of yes on the referendum to sell the land.

Charter amendment Prop-osition 1 would substitute the word "salary" for the present word "compensation" used in the city charter to describe the $10 a month the mayor and city council members make. The money already is treated as such and is subject to federal income tax. The change is needed to make that clear. The amount of the salary is not affected by the change in wording.

Proposition 2 modernizes the wording of the charter sections dealing with financing, budgeting, accounting, taxation and fees. It also would remove the detailed description of the duties of the city's chief financial officer, who is appointed by and answers to the city manager. City charters typically do not include such job descriptions for city manager appointees. The description has been in the charter for some 100 years, and removing it would not change the chief financial officer's duties and responsibilities.

Proposition 3 corrects punctuation and grammar in the city charter. It also changes the word "drain" to "drainage" in one section.

The people-driven Propo-sition 4 calls for returning to two the number of council members it takes to require an item to be placed on the city council agenda if the mayor refuses to add it. The council voted last July to change the number from two to three council members after the majority of the members became frustrated with two councilmen who frequently are at odds with the rest.

It was an ill-considered and unnecessary change. Mayor Mark Conlee said he has never denied a request from a council member to include something on the council agenda, although he acknowledges he gets frustrated by the two contrarian councilmen. If that is the case, why change the requirement, except to spite the two frequent dissenters?

Bryan resident Karen Hall collected more than 1,800 signatures to force the charter revision onto the May 9 ballot. It is obvious many people saw the change as highhanded and a way to drown out their voices.

City officials note that, if approved, Proposition 4 will put the number of council members required into the charter, where it can be changed only every two years and by a vote of the people. Now, it is simply council policy that can be changed easily.

That isn't a problem. Two years isn't that long a time if such a change is needed.

Frankly, we don't see why an item can't be put on the agenda by a single council member. If an issue is important to him or her, it should at least be considered by the full council -- which always has the ability to reject it outright when it is included.

City staff members say putting an item on the agenda requires a lot of staff time and effort. That isn't necessary. If the council likes an idea, it can then ask staff members to do the groundwork. If they don't, then nothing is lost.

The Eagle recommends a vote of yes on all four proposed Bryan charter amendments.