The Council-created City of Bastrop Charter Commission met yesterday (July 29). The City Council, when creating this Commission, required a super-majority (10 out of 13) to vote in favor of any proposed changes to the Charter. The Commission is not empowered to place changes on the ballot for voter approval. The Commission is only empowered to recommend changes to the City Council. Even in the face of super-majority recommendations, the City Council can nix any recommendation it doesn’t like.

Will the City Council vote to support the super-majority recommendations of their own duly created Charter Commission, or will they vote against restoring transparency and integrity to City business?

The current charter sets a quorum at 4 for all business, allowing a voting majority of 3 City Council members to meet in private.

The Charter Commission voted 11 – 2 to set the City Council quorum at four for meetings, and three for all other city business. The two no votes came from lawyer Joe Grady Tuck and his law partner Chris Kirby.

The proposed change would prevent a voting majority from meeting outside the eyes of the public. It would prevent them from meeting in advance and determining how they were going to vote prior to a meeting, prior to even hearing from the public on an issue. It would force transparency and go a long way to restoring integrity to City business.

The Council’s next meeting is August 13. They must vote at that meeting, or call a special meeting to place any Charter Commission recommended changes on the November ballot for voter approval. The Council must act by August 19 at the latest.

Of course, they can vote no, refusing to follow the recommendations of their own appointees. Email the City Council members now supporting this Charter recommendation to restore transparency and integrity to City business.

• City Council
• open government
• transparency