The big picture
The slate of propositions builds on the recent work of the Charter Review Committee, which City Council appointed in April.
Proposition G is the result of a citizen's petition by a group called Bee Cave Vote to Amend.
The petition was submitted to the city in April with over 321 signatures—just enough to secure a spot on the November ballot, according to city spokesperson Crystal Cotti.
Each proposition can be summarized as follows:
- Proposition A: Consolidates the process of changing the city's boundaries through disannexation and annexation
- Proposition B: Allows future changes to city mayor and council member compensation with both the council and voter approval
- Proposition C: Clarifies who among city leadership is authorized to conduct certain actions when the primary actor is not present; clarifies the mayor's powers during a state of emergency; allows the mayor to be elected by a plurality of votes
- Proposition D: Adjusts provisions for when the city fails to adopt a budget that complies with state law
- Proposition E: Designates a news outlet within the city as the city’s official newspaper, and would require all notices, ordinances and other communications to be published within it; prevents the city from being held liable for any damages reported to the city secretary more than six months after said damages took place
- Proposition F: Adjusts the standards for citizen petitions and gives the city secretary more time to certify the petition
- Proposition G: Requires voter approval for any sale, donation, exchange, leasing, purchase or physical change to city-owned property; requires all city discussion concerning city-owned property changes to take place in public meetings
The background
According to staff, a majority of the city-authored propositions are intended to make the city charter better conform with state laws and the current practices of the council.
Discussions about increasing council compensation kicked off in February, as former city manager Clint Garza introduced an ordinance to council that ultimately failed to pass.
Diving deeper
Proposition G was authored by Bee Cave resident Carrell Killebrew with Bee Cave Vote to Amend, who said the aim of the amendments is to increase city transparency surrounding land transactions.
"As a taxpayer, I would like to know why we're spending money before we're spending money, and if that's a piece of land, I'd love to know why we're selling it and who we're selling it to," Killebrew said.
Killebrew claims the council's practice of discussing land transactions in a closed session violates the Texas Open Meetings Act
In response, City Attorney Ryan Henry said the law "allows discussion of certain land transactions to be discussed in executive session. However, all decisions regarding land transactions are performed in open session."
What's next?
If the charter amendments are passed by voters in November, the city attorney will evaluate the legality and enforceability of the citizen petition item, Henry said.
