Charter review committee approves drafting changes on mayoral vacancies, discipline thresholds, attendance and checks

A charter review committee meeting on an item to revise the city charter advanced several procedural and structural changes and directed staff to return a final draft for adoption.

Committee members approved a correction to the prior meeting minutes and then reviewed a marked-up charter packet. Vice Chair Jarvis moved and members approved inserting the phrase "and a mayor" into chapter 2 so that mayoral vacancies are explicitly covered by the same vacancy rules discussed for councilors.

On how vacancies are filled, staff confirmed proposed language that an office would first be offered to the next-highest vote getter in the previous city council election; if that person declines or is ineligible, the council would appoint a replacement. The committee discussed whether to fix the mayor threshold as a 12-month cut-off or to retain the current "first half of term" formulation and did not change that structure during this meeting.

The committee also debated raising the threshold for councilor discipline. A motion to require a minimum of four affirmative votes for discipline passed by voice vote. Members noted the city attorney had cautioned that changing vote thresholds could affect ordinance votes because most ordinances involve code changes.

On attendance and remote participation, members discussed counting remote members (audio or video) as present for votes and whether visual confirmation should be required for voting. Staff reminded the group that current council rules require chair approval to participate remotely and that a physical quorum must be present for remote participation to count. The committee decided to leave detailed attendance rules to council rules while emphasizing the value of visual confirmation for optics and voting.

Financial procedures were addressed: members discussed modern electronic payments and internal controls, and then approved language specifying that physical checks must be signed by two authorized officials. Staff said electronic transfers are managed through internal approval systems and that monthly registers or ledgers could be provided to council for review to preserve oversight without disrupting operations.

The committee removed the requirement for mandatory full first readings of ordinances in all cases but agreed that if amendments are made an ordinance should be read in full. The group also clarified that unanimous approval permitting a title-only second reading at the same meeting means unanimous among those in attendance.

Vice Chair Jarvis asked staff to add a five-minute maximum for public comment as a new subsection of chapter 5; the committee agreed on a five-minute maximum per speaker and clarified invited partner presentations would be listed separately on the agenda.

Committee member Reynolds presented proposed ethics and enforcement language modeled on the Eugene Charter intended to give the council stronger disciplinary tools. Members expressed interest but raised concerns about due process and enforceability. Staff was directed to research how other cities implement ethics enforcement and to return recommended, legally sound language.

Staff said it will incorporate the committee's changes and distribute a revised clean draft for review; members tentatively scheduled a follow-up meeting for Oct. 7 to consider final adoption. The meeting adjourned.