Artist: John Trumbull.
On March 6, 2025, the Richardson Charter Review Commission continued their review of the Richardson Charter, covering Articles 6 (City Manager), 7 (City Attorney), and 8 (Administrative Department).
(Still no video by the City to link you to. One commissioner said, "I know I wasn't here last week, but I watched it on the video, so I'm completely caught up with the discussion." He didn't credit Justin Neth, but I'm guessing it was Neth's personal video he was referring to. It's ironic that the City Council voted 4-3 against video recording of Charter Review Commission meetings, citing an unwillingness of commission members from having their discussions video recorded, only to have the value of a video record demonstrated so quickly and clearly by the commission itself.)
Old Business
Before new business, the Commission finalized their recommendations on Articles 5 and 14.
The Commission confirmed that they do not want to relax the requirement of obtaining the signatures of 10% of registered voters in order for recall, initiative, and referendum. One said, "With regard to our [requirement of] at least 10%, we're not out of the mainstream here." But we are. We have a higher threshold than all but three of the twelve neighboring cities which we use as benchmarks. Richardson requires 7,210 signatures. The most common requirement in neighboring cities is 30% of actual voters. For Richardson, that would translate to 2,989 signatures, or fewer than half of what we currently require. Only two of twelve cities require more signatures than Richardson. We are not only out of the mainstream, we are an outlier and should strengthen democracy by relaxing the threshold.
The Commission confirmed that, as far as Richardson is concerned, requirements for office will use the language "qualified voter," not "registered voter." At least until the next Charter Commission review in ten years, when someone will likely ask whether that requirement really should be "registered voter". ;-)
The Commission added language clarifying what information needs to be on petitions. None of this makes it harder to file petitions. One Commissioner is still adamant about finding a way to require petitions to include the names of who is behind a petition drive, whatever that might mean legally. He calls it "attribution." The City Attorney has asked for an opinion from the Texas Attorney General. The Commission will revisit this once the Attorney General responds.
Section 14.01 has this language: "The people of the City of Richardson reserve the power of direct legislation by initiative, and in the exercise of such power may propose that any ordinance, except those not legally authorized to be considered by initiative by the state constitution or state law, be submitted to the qualified voters of the city [council] by submitting a petition to the city secretary..."
I find this language to be odd (and not just because it goes on for 62 words and still isn't finished). The initiative will be submitted to the "qualified voters of the city", right? Everywhere else they are referenced as "qualified voters of the city." Why are they referenced here as "qualified voters of the city [council]"? And where did those square brackets come from? They are in the online version of the City Charter. And why did City Attorney Pete Smith suggest removing the square brackets and not remove the word "council" as well? I don't understand what's been going on here.
Elsewhere, the Commission added some language for consistency with language elsewhere in the Charter, and they struck some language that wasn't necessary. None of the changes were substantive.
City Manager
The Commission moved some language about removal of the City Manager from the section about appointment to the section about removal. They also rewrote some language about removal for clarity.
Section 6.05(c) gives the City Manager the power "To exercise control over all departments and subdivisions thereof created by the charter, or that may hereafter be created by the council." City Attorney Smith recommended that the Commission add "...or by the city manager." He explained by saying it's because "the city manager may create departments or subdivisions thereof." Subdivisions yes, but not departments. This needs another rewording to avoid the implication that the City Manager will now have the power to create whole departments.
Section 6.05(e) says the City Manager shall have the power and duty "To attend all meetings of the council." There was much discussion of the difference between a City Council meeting and, say, an HOA meeting that a quorum of the City Council members might attend with respect to the Texas Open Meetings Act (TOMA). The City Manager and City Secretary both described these as being two different things. Out of an abundance of caution Richardson's practice is to post notice of any meetings at which a quorum of the City Council might attend. They didn't say how they handle the TOMA's additional requirement not to discuss matters not included in the posted agenda. No one on the Commission asked, either.
During public comments, Justin Neth urged the Commission to retain the Section 6.06 requirement that the City Manager have a "good and sufficient bond with a surety company...payable to the City of Richardson." Out of concern that such surety bonds may not be available in the future, the Commission agreed, in that case, to permit the City to "purchase Public Officials Liability coverage."
City Attorney
The City Manager recommended the Commission delete Section 7.05 (Compensation) because compensation for judges is determined by the City Council during the annual budget process. It's done in a block in the budget and administered by the City Manager, as determined by the actual work loads of the judge, alternate judges, prosecutor, and alternate prosecutor. The Commission agreed.
Administrative Departments
Section 8.01 says, "The council shall have power by ordinance to establish departments and offices." As already mentioned above, Section 6.05(c) as amended could be interpreted to mean the City Manager has the power to create departments, not just subdivisions of departments. No one read it the way I did because this discrepancy wasn't mentioned either in the discussion about Article 6 or the discussion about Article 8.
And with that, the Commission adjourned. I'll be absent on March 27, the date of the next Commission meeting, which promises to be substantive as heck. It's the one where the Commission might recommend a change to how City Council is elected. Hopefully, I'll have Justin Neth's personal video to watch, since the City won't be recording it.
Quotes have been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
"Lots of language shifts.
One word can tip the balance.
Or not. Balance holds."
—h/t ChatGPT
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