UPDATED: Council members push back on committee formed by Conroe Mayor Jody Czajkoski to review city charter

Updated 9:26 p.m. July 14, 2022

At a regular meeting on July 14, the Conroe City Council voted to cease and desist all meetings and formation of committees relating to reviewing the Conroe city charter.

Council members discussed a 30-member review committee formed by Mayor Jody Czajkoski during a July 13 workshop meeting, and an addendum was added to the agenda for the July 14 regular meeting by Council Members Marsha Porter and Harry Hardman asking council to consider ceasing all work in regard to reviewing the city's charter.

The vote July 14 also directed staff to cease and desist any work pertaining to an amendment to the Conroe city charter as well as dismissing the attorney associated with the research of amending the city charter, according to meeting information.

Czajkoski previously said July 13 during the workshop meeting he believes a new form of government should be considered amid the growing population of Conroe, adding two more council positions and a city manager role, Community Impact Newspaper reported.

During discussion on the item July 14, Mayor Pro-Tem Curt Maddux said he believes a look into the charter needs to happen, but he said he supports the cease and desist order.

The council unanimously voted in favor of the cease and desist order July 14.

Published 5:30 p.m. July 14, 2022

During a workshop meeting on July 13, Conroe City Council discussed the creation of a committee to review the city charter, which Mayor Jody Czajkoski said he created as he believes a new form of government should be considered with the growing population in the city.

Czajkoski said during the meeting that after reviewing the charter and seeing the last major overhaul was in 1992, he believed further steps needed to be taken. Czajkoski said he believes adding two more council positions and a city manager should be considered.

"We are the only city our size that doesn't have a true city manager," Czajkoski said during the workshop meeting.

Czajkoski said this discussion began last August with previous council members and the previous city attorney after studying the government charter. Czajkoski said he began working with a third party law firm that specializes in charter review, who recommended he nominate a large group of citizens to form a review committee. This City of Conroe Charter Review Committee consists of 30 people selected by Czajkoski to review the city charter and recommend revisions to the City Council that would vote on any changes, he said. According to Czajkoski, the committee met for the first time the week of July 11 where 12 of the 30 people selected showed up.

During the workshop meeting July 13, members of the council expressed opposition to the creation of the review committee. Council member Marsha Porter said she and other members of the council were unaware the review committee was created until July 7, and believes the process was not transparent. Porter spoke in opposition to adding two city council positions as well as a city manager, claiming that doing so would increase the size of government and take the vote away from the people by having council districts.

"Instead of having five city council members to represent a citizen, a citizen would be represented by one city council and possibly an at-large city council," Porter said.

Other members of council concurred with Porter’s opposition for the forming of a review committee.

Council member Harry Hardman said as a newly elected candidate he believes a strategic look should have been taken. He also said the formation of the review committee was not his only concern, but he said he also believes the number of people on the committee was too many as well.

"Getting 30 people to do anything effectively is very challenging," Hardman said. "And we can respectfully disagree with each other, and I hope that's what we are going to do, but I was really hoping for some inclusion on this."

Council member Todd Yancey and Mayor Pro-Tem Curt Maddox defended Czajkoski's intentions; however both said they believe the process needed to slow down.

Throughout the discussion, community members also spoke to council about the forming of the charter review committee.

Czajkoski said he was given a cease and desist order from Porter and Hardman on July 11 regarding the review committee. An addendum to the agenda for the July 14 regular meeting states the council will consider ceasing and desisting all meetings regarding the city charter review.

This story will be updated following the July 14 meeting.