The City Council on Monday voted unanimously to officially call for an election that will have Bartlesville voters decide whether proposed changes to the city charter will be made.
Talks regarding the proposed changes have been ongoing since October 2023, when the council began discussing recommendations by City staff that potential changes to Articles 2, 3, 4 and 16 of the governing document should be considered. The council has discussed the issue several times during public meetings since that time, hearing input from the public and revising staff suggestions over many weeks.
To implement changes to the city charter, the City Council must approve the changes and set the matter for election, and eligible Bartlesville voters must pass the measure.
The proposed language changes include:
Articles 2, 3
Shall be amended to provide changes to council terms, election dates, and other miscellaneous items.
- Council terms shall be extended from two years to three years.
- Council terms shall be staggered, so that no more than two council members’ terms are expiring at the same time.
- Council election dates shall be moved from November to April.
“This would allow more time for new council members to learn more complex processes of the City, such as the annual budget, our infrastructure, capital history and current needs, and to apply that knowledge and experience towards the operations of the City government,” said City Manager Mike Bailey. “Staggered terms 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.
“Moving council elections to April would serve several functions. 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, and would thereby result in better informed voters and allowing local media to focus solely on local issues.”
(Previous proposed language that clarified that elections and campaigns are to be held on a non-partisan basis was struck based on council feedback on the item.)
Article 4
Shall be amended to clarify requirements, provide a reasonable timeline for completion, and other miscellaneous items.
- All signatures on a recall petition must be obtained within 180 days of the filing of the petition with the city clerk (this was extended from 90 days based on Council discussion).
- City clerk shall have 30 days to fulfill his legal duties (described in the charter).
- Council members cannot be recalled in the first or last four months of their term.
“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 charter currently specifies that a council member cannot be recalled during the first four months of their term. If approved, recall would not be permitted during the last four months of the term as well.
“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,” Bailey said.
Article 16
Shall be amended to make purchasing and contracting more efficient and consistent throughout the organization.
- Authorizes council to set a limit for City Manager’s purchasing and contracting authority.
- Authorizes staff to utilize purchasing consortiums that have been approved by council to make purchases.
- Authorizes 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.
At least one housekeeping items is needed as well, Bailey said.
“An example of this is that the charter currently states that newly sworn-in council members are to begin acting in their roles 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.,” he said. “We have retained outside counsel to review the document and ensure that things like this are corrected now, while the public has the matter before them.”