Voters Guide: City Charter Amendments 71-83

Eighth in a series:

• City Charter Amendments Nos. 1-10
• City Charter Amendments Nos. 11-20
• City Charter Amendments Nos. 21-30
• City Charter Amendments Nos. 31-40
• City Charter Amendments Nos. 41-50
• City Charter Amendments Nos. 51-60
• City Charter Amendments Nos. 61-70
• City Charter Amendments Nos. 71-83

There are 83 propositions for amending the Richardson City Charter on the November ballot. I'm here with a voter's guide to tell you how to vote. You're welcome.

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• Proposition No. 71: Shall Section 12.14 of the Charter relating to the minimum amount to be paid to the city by a property owner for use of the abutting public right-of-way be repealed.
  

  YES. Minor change. Section 12.13 gives the city the power to set the terms and conditions for use of public right-of-way. Section 12.14 sets a minimum $5/annum charge. Yeah, we can do without that section being fixed in the charter.

• Proposition No. 72: Shall Section 12.15 of the Charter be amended to provide that the authority of the city under the existing charter provision to require shared use of facilities of a city franchisee is subject to state and federal law.
  

  YES. Cleanup. This amendment adds that the city has to follow state law. It shouldn't have to be said, but it doesn't hurt to be explicit.

• Proposition No. 73: Shall Section 12.16 of the Charter be amended to provide that the city council may by ordinance or resolution grant a permit or license for the temporary use of city streets and other public places.
  

  YES. Minor change. Amendment adds "licenses" to "permits." It adds by "resolution" to "ordinance" as ways to grant such permits.

• Proposition No. 74: Shall Section 13.03 of the Charter be amended to clarify and simplify the existing charter provision relating to the authentication, recordation and publication of city ordinances consistent with state law.
  

  YES. Minor change. Besides publication in a newspaper (remember those?) this amendment allows publication "by such other means as may be allowed by state law." Maybe in the city's own printed and mailed publication or, you know, online. If state law hasn't been brought up to date yet, with this amendment Richardson will be ready when it is.

• Proposition No. 75: Shall Section 13.07 of the Charter relating to the enrollment of city ordinances by the city secretary be amended.
  

  YES. Cleanup. The parts to be deleted specify how the city secretary is to "enroll" ordinances and write "Correctly Enrolled" in the margin of the ordinance and subscribe his or her name. We can do without that in the charter.

• Proposition No. 76: Shall Section 14.07 of the Charter be amended to change the number of days that an ordinance proposed by initiative petition must be published by the city secretary from 45 days to 30 days.
  

  YES. Minor change.

• Proposition No. 77: Shall Article XV of the Charter relating to the authentication, recording and publishing of city ordinances be repealed since such matters are governed by charter Section 13.03 as amended and state law.
  

  YES. Cleanup. Article XV is redundant with Section 13.03.

• Proposition No. 78: Shall Section 16.03 of the Charter relating to the payment of property taxes be amended to conform to state law.
  

  YES. Minor change. Instead of taxes being due "October 1", this amendment makes them due "on receipt of the tax bill." It seems to me that the city has a stronger position with a fixed date, but that's minor. Also, this amendment eliminates the power of the city council to provide for split payments.

• Proposition No. 79: Shall Sections 20.01 and 20.03 of the Charter be amended to simplify and clarify the authority of the city to exempt property from assessments.
  

  YES. Cosmetic. "said city" becomes "the city."

• Proposition No. 80: Shall Sections 20.03 and 20.04 of the Charter relating to the execution of any judgment or writ against the city, the garnishment of city funds, and liens against city property be amended to simplify and clarify that such acts shall conform to state law.
  

  YES. Cleanup. Section 20.03 is amended to provide exceptions "as provided by state or federal law." That shouldn't have to be said, but it doesn't hurt to be explicit. Section 20.04 has no such wording, so I'm not sure why it's mentioned in this proposition. Instead, this amendment changes the wording "public halls, parks or public works" to "the property, real and personal" of the City of Richardson. That's a reasonable cleanup, but it doesn't match the description of the amendment in the proposition.

• Proposition No. 81: Shall Section 21.04 of the Charter be amended to clarify the existing charter provision relating to the acquisition of land for parks.
  

  YES. Cleanup. "Parks, parkways or pleasure grounds" is changed to "parks, open space or other recreational activities."

• Proposition No. 82: Shall Article XXII of the Charter be amended to add Section 22.06 to provide that the city council may by ordinance renumber the articles, sections, subsections and paragraphs of the charter as necessary following any charter amendment election.
  

  YES. Minor change. I guess just in case some propositions that add or delete a section don't pass, the numbering of the rest might get out of sequence. It is reasonable to let the council renumber the rest without having to call another charter amendment election.

• Proposition No. 83: Shall the Charter be amended to correct spelling and capitalization without making any substantive changes.
  

  YES. Cleanup.

Stay tuned for a handy summary of all the city charter amendments and The Wheel's recommendations on how to vote.