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Charter Review Committee releases draft recommendations, urges leaner charter and term-extension plan
Summary
The Charter Review Committee presented draft recommendations that would lengthen mayor and council terms to three years (staggered) and reorganize mayor/council duties. The committee favored a 'less is more' charter and plans further meetings in June and July before finalizing ballot language.
The Lago Vista Charter Review Committee presented its draft recommendations to the City Council on June 12 and said it will continue meetings in June and July before delivering final proposals for council consideration.
Robert Owen, secretary of the committee, said the group followed a ‘‘less is more’’ philosophy and sought to remove obsolete, duplicative and highly prescriptive language from the charter. The committee’s draft contains about 22 substantive items plus cleanups; committee members said many suggested edits are scrivener and standardization changes (for example, standardizing references to "registered voters").
Key proposals include changing the mayor and council member terms from two years to three years with a staggered election cadence (described in the committee’s exhibit), requiring majority vote in some citywide elections, and adding a limited set of whistleblower protections for employees beyond existing state protections. The committee also debated removal procedures for council members, proposing options that preserve due process and include lesser sanctions short of removal such as suspensions or loss of voting privileges.
Committee members also recommended clarifying the role and wording for the Building and Standards Commission, which currently exercises quasi-judicial functions in practice but is not explicitly recognized in the charter, and suggested the council adopt language that will align the charter with how boards and commissions already operate.
The committee requested council feedback on the number and grouping of amendments that should go on a ballot. The group also presented sample transition language that would shift council seats to the longer staggered three-year cycle without forcing all offices up for election at once.
Ending: Council members thanked the committee and asked staff and the city attorney to review the draft redlines, clarify which items are substantive vs. scrivener edits, and return recommended ballot propositions and legal language for future meetings. The committee will meet two more times in June and July before delivering a final package.
