Flower Mound Town Council on Dec. 4 heard amendments to the charter. An election on these amendments could be held in May.
The background
Municipalities form charters to spell out what functions staff and council can administer. A Charter Review Commission was formed in Flower Mound to explore what could be added to the town’s charter, and commission Chair Steve Dixon presented ideas to council at the Dec. 4 meeting. The Charter Review Commission met five times between August and November, and came up with six amendment recommendations.
All meetings were open to the public and included a public comment opportunity, according to the council agenda memo. Council has the option to accept as presented, modify, propose new amendments or take no action, the agenda memo stated.
If council approves amendments to come forward for voter consideration, those amendments would be placed on the May 4 ballot, with a February deadline to call the election, town officials said.
The details
Dixon gave an overview of the group’s responsibility, explaining in part the charter could not contain language that conflicts with state law.
“There were 21 topics that were discussed, and in addition to the six proposed amendments, there was one policy recommendation and one strategic planning topic,” Dixon said as he began his presentation.
He conducted a rundown of ideas that were discussed but not advanced for recommendations, such as amending how the charter allows an individual to head up two or more departments. This rule excludes the police and fire departments.
Zooming in
These were the Charter Review Commission’s six recommendations:
- Remove all references in the charter to two-year terms, as council members serve for three years.
- The town manager can sign contracts for expenses that would not exceed $50,000, a change from the $15,000 threshold.
- Remove requirements that council ordinance captions be included in the local newspaper, except when required by state law, but this information could be put in a place where people can find it, such as the website.
- The town manager does not need to be a resident when appointed but will, after a reasonable amount of time after appointment, have up to 18 months to become a resident of the town. This would be a one-year extension to the six months already in place in the charter.
- The town budget must be filed with Denton and Tarrant counties. Right now, the copy is provided to Denton County. Tarrant County is not mentioned in the charter. State law requires budgets be filed with county clerks.
- A super majority is required for the creation of a tax increment reinvestment zone instead of a simple majority vote.
Dixon explained the policy recommendation centers on adopting a policy that developers be responsible for election costs related to a creation of a municipal utility district or a public improvement district. The strategic planning suggestion developed by the Charter Review Commission asked council to discuss the topic of “high property taxes” at a future strategic planning session to ensure that “checks and balances” are in place to protect taxpayers, especially as it relates to those who are age 65 and older or disabled.
Council will discuss the items on issues related to town manager approval of expenses and the TIRZ approval process at the Dec. 18 council meeting. Council also will discuss private-public partnerships at the next meeting.
