In a nutshell
During a Feb. 10 meeting, Lewisville City Council members voted unanimously to call a charter amendment election in May.
Proposed amendments to the city charter include increasing pay for council members and the mayor, adjusting the size of the city’s charter review commission and adjusting the number of separate meetings an ordinance has to be read at before it can be approved.
After council action, Lewisville voters can expect to see six propositions on the May 3 ballot.
The details
The proposed charter amendments are listed below:
- Proposition A
- “Should the charter be amended throughout to correct nonsubstantive errors such as capitalizations, punctuation and grammar; harmonize conflicting sections; and eliminate references to position titles that no longer exist?”
- Proposition B
- “Should the charter be amended to eliminate the reading of ordinances at open meetings on three (3) separate days, allowing the passage of ordinances at a single meeting without the need to declare an emergency?”
- Proposition C
- “Should the charter be amended to allow the city manager, instead of the city council, to appoint, remove, and assign duties to the city secretary?”
- Proposition D
- “Should the charter be amended to require mayoral or councilmember candidates to submit a petition signed by qualified voters of the city eligible to vote for the candidate, equal in number to the number of signatures required for a candidate petition by state law, and to eliminate the requirement for a loyalty affidavit?”
- Proposition E
- “Should the charter be amended to increase the number of citizens serving on a charter review commission from five (5) to seven (7)?”
- Proposition F
- “Should the charter be amended to increase the compensation for the mayor and council members from $50.00 for each meeting to $400.00 per month for the mayor and $300.00 per month for each council member?”
The propositions were presented by the city’s charter review commission during a council work session held in January. The commission is made up of five Lewisville citizens appointed by council members in July.
Commission members met for six meetings between August and December, and considered ten different topics related to amending the charter. The final presentation to the council included six propositions now being considered for places on the May election ballot.
Lewisville’s last charter election was held in 2021, according to the presentation. Three amendments were passed by voters during that election. Four charter elections in total have been held since 2000.
In comparison
Council members and the mayor are currently paid $50 per meeting. City Council typically meets twice a month so members make about $100 a month. According to the commission’s presentation, the average compensation across 15 North Texas cities is $469 a month for council members and $697 for mayors.
That average rises to $721 for council members and $1,051 for mayors when Dallas and Fort Worth are included.
Coppell City Council is the only council among 17 cities examined by the charter review commission that is not directly compensated.
The charter commission’s complete report to the council can be viewed online.
