Citizens of Rowlett

When you go to the polls to vote on November 4th (or earlier), aside from the most important issue of voting for the future POTUS, you will also be presented with some amendments to the charter for Rowlett. The charter is a document that outlines the principles, functions, and organization of a city and it defines privileges and purposes of the city’s government.

So, you as a citizen get the chance to tell the city whether or not the proposed changes are ok, or, not. This is a blog and I have the liberties to express my actual opinion on these matters (unlike mainstream newspapers). So, what amendments are on the ballet that should be looked at with a skeptical eye?

Amendment #1

No. 1: Shall Subsection (3) (“Term Limits”) of Section 3.02
of the Rowlett City Charter be amended to extend the term
limits of the Mayor and City Council members from two (2)
terms to three (3) terms, to impose a six-consecutive term
limit on service as Mayor and City Council members, to allow
additional service following a break in service of at least one
year, and to clarify the definition of “term”.

This amendment allows for the extension of the terms for the Mayor and Council. Granted we still have to elect them in order for them to get into office so we still have power as citizens to toss a mayor out on their behinds if we don’t like them. But the problem here is, with a small city, we tend to not pay attention to elections and we re-elect fools like our past mayor Shane Johnson. On this amendment I say vote NO.

Amendment #3

No. 3: Shall Subsections (1) and (2) of Section 3.11
(“Compensation for the Mayor and City Council members”)
of the Rowlett City Charter be amended to change the
compensation of the Mayor and City Council members from a
monthly to a per meeting basis and to remove the annual limit,
to be effective on and after June 1, 2011.

This amendment gives the Mayor and Council a raise. Not in the sense that they get a higher salary, but that they get a bonus for attending council meetings instead of getting money on a per month basis. Taken directly from the document:

“Currently, the Mayor receives $150 per month and the
City Council members receive $100 per month. Upon
voter approval, effective June 1, 2011, this Charter
revision will compensate the Mayor with $75 and each
City Council member with $50, for each attended
regular, special or emergency Council meeting.”

Unless the Council or Mayor wants to refute this with hard evidence that this isn’t a raise I’ll be sticking with a vote of NO on this amendment.

I don’t have a beef with any of the other amendments but I attach them below so you know what they are. Also, as a side note, I do want to thank whomever from the city that wrote the document with the amendments. Why? Because they included a layman’s explanation in the document of what each amendment was doing. Too often things are written in more lawyer speak than in plain English.

Now if you could start doing that for the City Council Meeting Agendas that would be great!