Bartlett board votes to seek charter amendment; approves two write-offs

The Bartlett Board of Mayor and Aldermen on Feb. 18 adopted a resolution requesting the Tennessee General Assembly to amend the city charter and approved two routine write-offs: $56,939.63 in uncollectible utility accounts and $17,001.73 in uncollectible property taxes, officials said.

City Attorney Ed McKinney, who presented the charter proposal, told the board that the charter "is the equivalent of the constitution for the city of Bartlett. It's the general law." The resolution asks the General Assembly to enact several changes and, if approved at the state level, requires the board to ratify the change by a two-thirds vote within 120 days to make it law.

The proposed charter changes would: remove animal-control provisions from the charter and place them in an ordinance; establish term limits of three four-year terms for mayor and aldermen; create parity so elected officials would in some cases have to resign to run for a different office (commonly referred to as "resign-to-run"); and clarify disciplinary and appointment authority for city employment, including explicit authority for the mayor to appoint and to delegate that authority to the city administrator.

"The things that are being suggested for change, the animal control provisions ... should be in an ordinance," McKinney said. He described term limits as "3 four-year terms" and said the resign-to-run language is intended to make the rules the same for all board members. McKinney also said the disciplinary language would make clear that Bartlett is an at-will city and clarify appointment and removal authority.

Alderman Autumn McQuinn expressed support for term limits, saying the issue was a frequent request during her campaign. "The number one thing people wanted us to do was create some type of term limits for city government," McQuinn said. An attempt by a board member to amend the resolution to make term limits apply retrospectively failed for lack of a sustained second, and discussion resumed on the main motion.

The board also heard routine presentations from Finance Director Mr. Phoebus on two annual write-off resolutions. On Resolution 4-25, Mr. Phoebus said the city seeks to write off $56,939.63 in water and utility bills that staff deemed uncollectible and that those accounts would remain in records so service could not be re-established without payment. On Resolution 07-25 he said Shelby County had declared certain property-tax amounts uncollectible and asked the city to remove $17,001.73 from the tax rolls.

Votes at a glance: Resolution 4-25 — delete uncollectible utility accounts (amount stated by finance director: $56,939.63) — motion carried. Resolution 07-25 — delete uncollectible property taxes (amount stated by finance director: $17,001.73) — motion carried. Resolution 08-25 — request to Tennessee General Assembly to amend city charter (items outlined above) — adopted; the clerk recorded the roll call as "6 to 2 to 1," and the board then closed regular business and moved to open discussion.

Next steps: If the General Assembly considers and passes the private act requested by the city, it would be signed by the governor and returned to Bartlett, where the board must approve the change again by a two-thirds vote within 120 days for it to take effect.

Context and process notes: City staff and the city attorney emphasized that charter changes require state action (the General Assembly) and a subsequent local two-thirds ratification. Board discussion included procedural clarifications (including two typographical corrections to the draft resolution: the phrase "private act" was corrected where the draft had "public act") and a question about the statute of limitations on property-tax collection, which board members and staff discussed in the context of write-offs.