Dallas’ city charter is being updated. Here are some changes on the table
The Dallas Charter Review Commission has approved more than 30 proposed amendments. The Dallas Charter Review Commission is working on updating the city charter, which defines the powers, functions and structure of Dallas's government. The commission is working to narrow down 125 proposed charter amendments to recommend to the City Council. The changes include pay raises for the Dallas City Council, lower barriers for residents to petition for changes in the city, and an independent office to investigate corruption allegations. So far, the commission has approved more than 30 suggested amendments to the city's charter. The last charter review in 2014 included increasing salaries of the mayor and council members to $80,000 and $60,000, and expanding the definition of people who can't be discriminated against for city employment and preventing city officials from having financial conflicts in public contracts. Other proposed changes include a change to a ranked-choice voting system for council members, which would rank candidates in order of preference and require future salary increases based on inflation rather than a new charter amendment. The City Council is expected to discuss these recommendations in May.
Published : 4 weeks ago by Everton Bailey Jr. in Politics
Pay raises for the Dallas City Council, lower barriers for residents to petition for changes in the city, and an independent office to investigate corruption allegations are in the running to become the latest additions to the city charter this year.
Dallas is in the midst of its once-in-a-decade process of updating the city charter and nearing the end of the first stage. The Dallas Charter Review Commission, a 15-member City Council-appointed board, began work in September to gather and narrow down 125 proposed charter amendments to recommend to the City Council.
The commission has approved more than 30 suggested amendments to the city charter so far. Other ideas include clarifying when the city manager must submit a budget proposal and modifying the voting system residents use to elect council members.
The charter defines the powers, functions and structure of Dallas’ government.
“The charter is the foundation on which our city government is built,” said Jake Anderson, Dallas’ government affairs manager, during a Monday town hall meeting that took place by phone.
The commission’s next, and possibly final, meeting is April 11, when its members could vote on finalizing charter amendment recommendations.
The City Council is expected to discuss the recommendations in May. The council can add, subtract or modify suggestions before approving a final set of proposed changes to forward onto a November election. Voters must approve any amendments.
The last charter review happened in 2014, when voters approved updates that included increasing the salaries of the mayor to $80,000 and council members to $60,000. The updates also expanded the definition of people who can’t be discriminated against for city employment and banned city officials and employees from having financial conflicts in public contracts.
Here are some proposed changes to the Dallas charter that the commission already has approved to include in its recommendation.
The mayor and council members would be elected under a completely different system that would rank candidates, according to one of the commission’s proposed changes.
Under the suggested ranked-choice system, voters choose candidates in order of preference. The lower finishing candidates are eliminated. Their votes are transferred to the remaining candidates until someone receives a majority and is declared the winner.
Dallas currently uses a system in which voters select only one candidate. If no candidate wins a majority in the general election, the two top finishers move to a runoff election to determine a winner.
However, Texas law doesn’t allow ranked-choice voting. The charter review commission recommends adding a clause that would trigger Dallas’ switch to a ranked-choice voting system once allowed by law.
Dallas’ mayor and city council members would earn more money under another proposed change.
The mayor’s salary would increase from $80,000 to $140,000, and city council members’ salaries would rise from $60,000 to $125,000, according to the commission’s recommendation. The proposal would require future salary increases to occur based on the Consumer Price Index rather than a new charter amendment That would lead to increases based on inflation.
The commission proposes changing the charter to expand some public notices from being published beyond “a newspaper of general circulation in the city.” That newspaper is typically The Dallas Morning News. The city should have a communication plan to publish public notices, such as of rezoning hearings or the wording of election propositions, in more than one local news publication, in print and online, as well as in English and Spanish, according to recommendations.
The commission proposes changing the charter to modify the requirements for resident-led petitions to change city laws. The charter currently requires -- for a petition for a ballot initiative or referendum of an ordinance to be considered -- a group of at least five registered voters must collect an amount of valid voter signatures equal to 10% of all registered Dallas voters in 60 days.
The commission recommends that tally be lowered to 5% of all registered Dallas voters signatures collected over 120 days. Last year, 690,635 residents were eligible to vote in Dallas’ mayoral election. Under the current requirements, more than 69,063 signatures would be required compared to 34,531 if the minimum is lowered.
Council members would appoint the director of the city’s community police oversight board, according to the commissions proposed changes. The duty now rests with the city manager. The move would require the director of the citizen police oversight group to also report directly to the City Council instead of the city manager, which proponents say will increase transparency.
The commission proposes changing the charter to replace “citizen” throughout the document with “resident,” “people,” or “citizens and authorized residents of the United States who are residents of Dallas.” The proposal is meant to make the charter more inclusive.
The commission proposes changing the charter to allow residents to serve on the city’s Park and Recreation Board, Civil Service Board, City Plan Commission and Redistricting Commission, regardless of their voter eligibility or registration status.
Anderson told The News the city connected with almost 3,500 residents for Monday’s phone town hall, but a fraction of that tally picked up and remained on the line throughout the hour-long event.
Charter amendment proposals seeking to increase the ways the city posts public notices and those allowing more time for petitioners to gather signatures received the most support in phone surveys of residents on some of the ideas Monday.
Changing the charter so residents can serve on the park board and other charter-created groups regardless of their voter registration status received the most opposition, along with moving to a ranked-choice election voting system.