During Bee Cave City Council's special meeting Feb. 17, Mayor Caroline Murphy appointed a 15-member Home Rule Charter Review Commission tasked with compiling a new city charter to attain home rule city status. In order for the council to have the proposal on the city's May ballot, the commission must meet the home rule requirements by the March 1 deadline, a timeline to which Councilman Bill Goodwin is opposed.
"The idea of writing a city charter by 15 people in three meetings is ludicrous," Goodwin said. "We need to be very careful here. We're making big decisions very fast, and it's not addressing the real problem."
Home rule, as opposed to general law operation of a local government, is the ability of a city to govern by its local charter rather than by state statute to determine what it is allowed to do. A home rule city can take any action not prohibited under state law as long as it is included in the city's charter. If the City of Bee Cave attains home rule status, it will have greater authority to annex extraterritorial jurisdiction, or ETJ, property without the landowners' consent as well as impose higher tax rates and fees for those doing business within its borders.
Goodwin said that even if the city were to annex all of the areas within its ETJ, it may not be able to deny zoning permits to a proposed car dealership and other businesses. Last year, a Covert car dealership was denied a preliminary plat on Hwy. 71 within the Bee Cave ETJ based on the city's subdivision ordinance requiring two entrances or exits in all developments. At the time, Covert lacked approval for the second entrance/exit.
