The details
Pearland City Council voted 4-3 to appoint seven Pearland residents to the charter review commission, which is tasked with reviewing and amending the city’s charter, as well as ensuring it is compliant with new state laws.
Though new commission is selected every six years, the appointees only serve six month term, per the city’s charter, according to agenda documents. The last commission was appointed in 2019.
Zooming out
City Council approved the following individuals for the commission, originally recommended by the Boards & Commissions committee Jan. 9:
- Victoria Forsberg
- Shelly Heuser
- Jim Johnson
- Gerald L Koza Jr.
- Alexander C. Okwonna
- E. Craig Slater
- Travis S. Spiegelhauer
Any recommendations to the charter the commission makes will be presented to City Council, which will determine if the recommended charter amendments should be given to voters in the May 2026 election, according to agenda documents.
What they said
Council members Rushi Patel, Layni Cade and Mona Chavarria voted against appointing the seven aforementioned individuals to the commission.
The city aimed to select individuals representing all geographic areas and demographics of Pearland, Cole said.
“We wanted to balance our community as much as we could, given who and where people lived that submitted applications,” Cole said.
Patel said he disagreed that diversity and location should have been a factor in selecting candidates for the commission.
“We’re not talking about the qualifications of the person anymore, we’re talking about [whether] they checked the correct box, whether they are female, their race is correct or they live in the right ZIP code,” Patel said.
Patel said he nominated a former City Council member, believing they should have been included in the final list of candidates. Patel said he felt that having someone with experience in city government would enhance the commission's understanding of the rules governing City Council.
Cade also said she disagreed that where candidates lived in Pearland should have been considered when selecting final nominations for the commission.
Cole said he felt it was important that residents from all areas of Pearland felt represented on the commission, particularly from the region west of Hwy. 288, which currently has only one member from that area—Spiegelhauer.
“We wanted to make sure that the whole community had an opportunity here and was represented,” Cole said. “I will tell you my phone would be ringing off the wall if we didn’t have somebody west of [Hwy.] 288 represented.”
