|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Posted at: 11/17/2009 10:42 PM Possible Charter Change for Austin(ABC 6 NEWS) -- The City of Austin may be making some changes to how government does business. Tuesday night the Austin Charter Commission met to finalize some changes to the Austin charter. The charter commission has been drafting a new charter for the city of Austin for nearly two years because they want to make sure they get it right. “This is not something you want to shove down somebody's throat. This is going to concern the governance of the city for 20, 30, 40 years,” says Sherwood Vereide, Vice President of the Charter Commission. The last time the charter was revised in total was back in 1923. The current charter with its amendments is one-hundred-thirty-pages long but the new charter is down to 38 pages. Because the charter is over 80 years old, the commission was able to remove many items that are now covered by state statutes. If the new charter is passed, the mayor would be the tie breaking vote at city council meetings, which would speed-up the decision-making process. “You could have a 3-3 vote, then the mayor could break the tie. Right now that vote would have to be held over until the next meeting,” says Vereide. Some of the changes that voters may notice are that the mayor and council member at large terms could change from 2 years to 4 years. Current council member at large and ABC 6 staff member Janet Anderson thinks the change will be positive. “I'm just approaching the end of my 1st year of a 2 year term and I can see the learning curve and it would be very helpful for a 4 year term and I think it would benefit the citizens of Austin because that person would have better experience,” says Anderson. The charter commission will submit a draft to the city council within the week. Then the council will vote. A charter change can only pass with a unanimous vote.
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Print Story
Email to a Friend