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New Braunfels City Council is expected to call a charter amendment election in 2027. But first, they need a charter review commission.
Applications for the charter review commission will open on the city's website Aug. 28, city officials said in an email to Community Impact.
What to expect
Applications will include the following:
Once an individual completes their application, the city's secretary's office will validate it to confirm eligibility. After that, the application will be sent to the person's respective City Council member for review. The mayor will review all submitted applications, according to a presentation at an Aug. 19 special meeting. Council members will select individuals from the eligible applicants within their district. The mayor will select after council members—this will ensure that there is no duplicate for the at-large seat, the presentation states.
The city will be selecting an outside legal firm to support the charter review commission and the development of any proposed amendments. City staff released a Request for Qualifications, or RFQ, on July 10. Responses to the RFQs, which are due Aug. 31, will be reviewed and ranked by an evaluation team using the published evaluation criteria, as outlined in the presentation.
Why now?
Discussion surrounding the formation of a charter review commission began after officials discovered a conflict between the city charter and Texas Constitution regarding the May 2 mayoral race. The city charter stated that the mayoral election would be decided by the candidate who receives the most votes, or a plurality, regardless of whether a candidate receives a majority. According to the Texas Constitution, when a term of office exceeds two years—as in the case of the New Braunfels mayor—members of a municipality's governing body must be elected by a majority vote, which led to a runoff.
Next steps
City Council is anticipated to appoint charter review commission members Sept. 28 or Oct. 12, according to the presentation. This will give the commission four to five months to review the charter before council calls a charter amendment election in February 2027. The charter amendment election would then be held in May 2027.
