At an Aug. 5 meeting, Missouri City City Council voted to add 14 proposed charter amendments to the ballots allowing residents to determine if the changes will be made to the city’s charter, which governs city operations.
On the ballot
The charter amendments will be posed in a question format on the ballot requiring voters to answer with a yes or no to each proposed change, according to agenda documents.
City Attorney E. Joyce Iyamu broke down the 14 proposed amendments for City Council with simplified explanations during an Aug. 5 presentation. Here’s what voters will see on the ballot:
Charter Proposition A
- Ballot language: Shall Section 3.03 and Subsection 3.06.B of Article III of the Charter of the city of Missouri City be amended to clarify that City Council determinations as to qualifications for office on the city council shall be subject to judicial review?
- Simplified: Should language be added to clarify that qualifications of elected officials are to be determined not only by City Council but to state law?
- Ballot language: Shall Section 3.04 of Article III of the Charter of the city of Missouri City be amended to delete the waiting period for City Council compensation changes and to provide limitations allowing compensation increases only once a year based on the consumer price index and an adopted budget?
- Simplified: Should City Council be able to make decisions on compensation changes for their roles? Currently, council compensation increases require an election and six-month waiting period before going into effect.
- Ballot language: Shall Section 3.05 of Article III of the Charter of the city of Missouri City be amended to change the timeframe for electing the mayor pro tem from the second meeting in December to any meeting between Nov. 15 and Dec. 31, but after a general election, if any, in which a member of the council is elected?
- Simplified: Should City Council change the timeframe for electing a mayor pro tem from the second regular council meeting in December to between Nov. 15 and Dec. 31?
- Ballot language: Shall Subsection 3.06.D of Article III of the Charter of the city of Missouri City be amended to clarify that the City Council may only appoint a new council member if 12 months or less remain on the unexpired term of office for the vacant position on the council?
- Simplified: Should language be added to clarify that council member appointments can only occur if 12 months or less remain in the term? Otherwise, the position would be up for election.
- Ballot language: Shall Section 3.09 of Article III of the Charter of the city of Missouri City be amended to require the City Council to hold at least two meetings per month in 10 months per calendar year and at least one (1) meeting per month in the remaining two months?
- Simplified: Should City Council meeting requirements be changed from requiring at least two meetings in all 12 months to 10 months in a calendar year?
- Ballot language: Shall Section 3.10 of Article III of the Charter of the city of Missouri City be amended to clarify that less than four council members is required for a quorum if less members are required for a quorum pursuant to state law?
- Simplified: Should the charter be amended to decrease the amount of members needed for a quorum in certain circumstances, such as ballot canvassing, according to state law? Currently, four members make a quorum.
- Ballot language: Shall Section 3.14 of Article III of the Charter of the city of Missouri City be amended to remove the requirement to print the Missouri City Code every 10 years due to technological advances?
- Simplified: Should the charter be amended to allow for electric codification on a more frequent basis due to technological advances?
- Ballot language: Shall Subsection 4.01.D of Article IV of the Charter of the city of Missouri City be amended to allow the city manager to appoint, suspend or remove all or any one of the city’s department directors after an official meeting with the council for discussion and deliberation?
- Simplified: Should the city manager be allowed to make decisions regarding appointing, suspending and removing directors after consulting with City Council, rather than receiving City Council approval?
- Ballot language: Shall Subsection 4.01.E of Article IV of the Charter of the city of Missouri City be amended for consistency with Section 3.08 of Article III of the Charter of the city of Missouri City to allow a former member of the City Council to be chosen as city manager or acting city manager after one (1) year of leaving office?
- Simplified: Should a former City Council member be allowed to serve as city manager or acting city manager one year after serving on council, rather than the current two years?
- Ballot language: Shall Subsection 4.06.E of Article IV of the Charter of the city of Missouri City be amended to authorize the city manager to prepare and adopt personnel rules after an official meeting with the council for discussion and deliberation?
- Simplified: Should the city manager be allowed to prepare staff rules with council consultation rather than council adoption by ordinance?
- Ballot language: Shall Subsection 4.06.F be added to Article IV of the Charter of the city of Missouri City to continue to require the City Council to adopt a pay plan, including incentive pay, by ordinance?
- Simplified: Should the city charter be clarified to continue allowing council to set budget policy by requiring City Council to adopt the city pay plan?
- Ballot language: Shall Section 6.05 of Article VI of the Charter of the city of Missouri City be amended to require the city secretary to verify the residency of a candidate for office by requiring an affidavit and viewing a Texas driver’s license or identification card and utility bills, deeds, leases or rental agreements, homestead exemption documentation, or other documents containing an address that can be used to allow a Texas voter to cast a ballot pursuant to state law for the applicable residency period?
- Simplified: Should the city add a requirement for an affidavit for candidacy and require the city secretary to verify candidate residency?
- Ballot language: Shall Section 9.09 of Article IX of the Charter of the city of Missouri City be amended to authorize the city manager and financial services director to sign checks instead of the mayor and the city manager?
- Simplified: Should the requirement for the mayor’s signature on checks be removed and replace the authorized signature with the city manager?
- Ballot language: Shall Section 3.09 of Article III of the Charter of the city of Missouri City be amended to eliminate the prohibition against public official’s being financially interested directly or indirectly in contracts let by the city and require, in lieu of such provision, public officials to follow state law conflicts of interest procedures and additional mandatory disclosure requirements?
- Simplified: Should the city add clarifying language to defer to state law for conflicts of interests and add additional disclosure requirements?
The city also called a general election for four City Council seats, including districts A, B, C and D, held by Monica Riley, Jeffrey Boney, Anthony Maroulis and Floyd Emery, respectively.
The filing period for these seats opened July 20 and will close Aug. 19. Those elected will serve three-year terms on their respective council seats.
Looking ahead
The city will release educational information on proposed charter amendments on its website by Aug. 15, Iyamu said.
The general election will take place Nov. 5 with early voting running from Oct. 21-Nov. 1, according to the Texas Secretary of State’s website.
