Leander City Council approved election ordinances Feb. 7 for council seats and city charter amendments. These elections will be in addition to the Capital Metro election, which was called in January.
Early voting will run April 25-May 3. Election day is May 7. The last day to register to vote is April 7.
Leander City Council seats
Place 1, Place 3 and Place 5 seats on the Leander City Council will be on the May 7 ballot. Council members are elected at large and serve three-year terms.
Here are the candidates who have filed as of Feb. 9:
- Place 1: Kathryn Pantalion-Parker (incumbent), Trey Schisser
- Place 3: David McDonald, Steve Hanes
- Place 5: Chris Czernek (incumbent), Annette Sponseller
City charter amendments
There will be 13 city charter amendments on the ballot. The city charter is required to be reviewed every five years.
The Leander Charter Review Commission reviewed the charter in late 2021 and recommended 11 amendment propositions to the Leander City Council for consideration. Council members further discussed the proposed changes and called an election for 13 charter amendments for voters to consider.
The approved election ordinance and ballot language can be viewed online.
Proposition C: Term limits
Mayors and council members would be limited to three three-year terms unless a person has been out of office for at least one full term. Additionally, a person could serve a combination of three terms as mayor and three terms as a council member. This would become effective in the May election.
Proposition D: Resign to run
A mayor or council member seat would become vacant if the incumbent announces as a candidate for another elected office when the unexpired term has more than one year and 30 days left in the term.
Proposition E: Term of office
Elected council members would take office on the Tuesday following the canvassing of the election regardless of a runoff election. Council members elected in a runoff election would take office the Tuesday following the canvassing of their election.
Proposition F: City manager
Council members could ask a city manager to resign, and if the city manager declines to resign within 15 days then a hearing could be held.
Proposition G: Department director appointments
The hiring of city department heads would not require the approval of the City Council.
Proposition H: Police department employee evaluations
Police department employee evaluations would be subject to review by the city manager rather than both the city manager and City Council. The change would also limit the city manager to reviewing the evaluation so that the city manager cannot modify or revise evaluations.
Proposition I: Fire department employee evaluations
This change would make city charter language mirror the Leander Police Department Employee Evaluations. Charter language would be changed to remove that fire department evaluations are subject to modification by the city manager.
Proposition J: Mayor pro tem appointment
The mayor pro tem would be appointed after the canvass of the general election and any runoff election. Currently, the language says the mayor pro tem is appointed after the general election.
Proposition K: Planning commission appointments
Each council member would appoint a member to the planning commission without a majority vote of the council or a recommendation from the board selection committee. Currently, a nominee is subject to council approval by majority vote.
Proposition L: Selection of auditor
The maximum period that the city may contract with an independent auditor would increase from three years to five years. This proposition was on a previous election and did not pass. This will match other cities’ five-year time frames.
Proposition M: Mayoral duties
Three duties would be removed from the duties of the mayor: recommendation of appointees for boards and commissions, submission of a recommended budget to council and taking command of the police in a time of a declared emergency.
Proposition N: Public records
Written applications for public records would no longer need to be stamped with a city seal with a copy of the application provided to the applicant.
Proposition O: Charter review commission term
The term of each charter review commission would not have a requirement of six months in length.
Capital Metro sales tax reallocation
Council members voted to postpone calling a sales tax reallocation election to allow for time to clarify ballot language before the Feb. 17 council meeting.
The sales tax proposition would not raise the current sales tax rate in Leander but would allow the city to receive the 1% sales tax that currently goes to Capital Metro. This is dependent on a majority of voters voting against continuing Capital Metro in Leander. The reallocation would begin after the city has paid its net financial obligation for withdrawal to Capital Metro through the existing 1% sales tax.
