No action has been taken on the item yet, but the City Council has held several discussions in recent months about potential City Charter changes that voters could be asked to decide in an April election.
Bartlesville has been governed by charter since it was ratified by the governor in 1987. It was last updated in 2010, when voters passed recommendations made by a citizen-led committee tasked with reviewing the document for possible needed changes. The committee recommended and voters approved measures to shorten City Council terms to two years from four, and to hold council elections in November, on the same date held for state and national elections, along with other minor updates. These items, along with a few others, are now being considered for updating by the council.
Potential changes under discussion currently include:
Extending council terms from two years to three years
“This would allow more time for new council members to learn more complex processes of the City, such as the annual budget, our infrastructure and capital history and current needs, and to apply that knowledge and experience towards the operations of the City government,” said City Manager Mike Bailey.
Staggering council terms so that no more than two council members’ terms are expiring at the same time
“This would eliminate the risk of an entire council being voted out at one time, which could significantly impact the efficiency and business of the City,” Bailey said.
Moving council election dates from November to April
“This would serve several functions,” Bailey said. “Most importantly, it would allow us to hold all City elections, including council seats, General Obligation Bond funding, half-cent sales tax and quarter-cent economic development tax elections, at the same time of the year and in conjunction with other local elections, such as Bartlesville Public School Board elections. This would keep our local elections clear of getting lost in the noise and politics of state and federal elections, resulting in better informed voters and allowing local media to focus solely on local issues.”
Council campaigns, recall rules
The council is also considering asking voters to decide whether to put a time limit on recall petitions for City councilors and whether to extend the length of time the City Clerk has to verify and validate signatures on a recall effort, currently 10 days.
“Currently, the charter does not specify a time limit for a recall effort,” Bailey said. “So theoretically, you could have a group or individual collecting signatures to recall a council member for the entire duration of their service on the council, possibly for multiple terms. It makes sense to put some parameters in place for this, and it is vital that the city clerk have more time to validate signatures. Ten days is simply not enough time to verify the legitimacy of a thousand or more signatures.”
The council is also considering a staff recommendation to include language that would prohibit recalling a council members within the last four months of their term.
“The charter currently specifies that a council member cannot be recalled during the first four months of their term,” Bailey said. “We think it makes sense to extend that to include the last four months as well, as at that point an election is imminent and the public will have an opportunity to vote a candidate out of their office.”
Purchasing & contracts
Other proposed changes include amending the charter to make purchasing and contracting more efficient and consistent throughout the organization by authorizing the council to set a limit for the city manager’s purchasing and contracting authority, and to authorize City staff to utilize purchasing consortiums that have been approved by the council to make purchases, as well as authorize the city manager to sign contracts that do not exceed the limits established by council.
“Passage of these amendments would bring contract procedures into alignment with purchase procedures,” Bailey said. “They would also allow the City Council to authorize the city manager to sign contracts under certain amounts, as well as authorize the City the use of purchasing consortiums. This would allow for more efficient and cost-effective measures, as well as unify purchasing under one standard. Note that due to the Competitive Bidding Act, there would be no change for contracts and bids for public improvements.
Next steps
Any changes to the City Charter requires a majority passage by Bartlesville voters. For voters to decide the issue in an April election, the council will need to officially call for the election by early February.
In the meantime, City staff is set to meet this week with outside legal counsel review the entire charter and advise whether additional changes are needed, Bailey said.
“Because changing the charter is a lengthy and involved process, as it should be, we want to make sure we are proposing all the changes that might be necessary as far as we can foresee,” Bailey said. “For instance, if we have language in our charter that is incongruent with other parts of the document, of course we want to address that sooner, rather than later.”
An example of this, Bailey said, is that the charter currently states that newly sworn-in council members are to begin acting in this role at 7 p.m. at the first meeting in December following election. However, City Council meetings now begin at 5:30 p.m., not 7 p.m.
“We need to amend this, obviously,” he said. “Now is a good time to review the document and make sure there aren’t other inconsistencies that we may be overlooking.”