Levelland charter-review committee hears plan to modernize decades-old provisions

Slater Elza, an attorney who represents dozens of Texas cities and school districts, told Levelland’s charter-review committee on the first meeting that the city’s charter contains multiple outdated or inconsistent provisions and recommended a series of modernizing amendments.

“Elza said city charters are ‘the constitution of the city,’” he told the committee as he outlined why revisions are needed for a growing town. He urged transparency and outreach, saying the committee’s recommendations will go to the full council and each proposed change will appear as a separate ballot item so voters can approve provisions one by one.

Why it matters: Many charter clauses were written in the early 20th century, Elza said, and some conflict with current state or federal requirements on elections, municipal liabilities and procurement. Updating the charter, he said, would reduce legal ambiguity and give the city more operational flexibility while preserving essential public notice and oversight.

Key proposed areas

Claims and notice periods: Elza highlighted a damages provision that requires notice to the city secretary within 30 days before filing suit and contrasted that with longer state timeframes. “State law kind of brailed that for state issues to a hundred and 80 days,” he said, recommending the charter be aligned with modern statutory practice to allow adequate time for investigation and potential resolution without litigation.

Elections and timing: The presentation flagged charter language that fixes election dates and runoff timing in ways that can conflict with the Texas Election Code and federal voting requirements (for example, ballots for overseas voters). Elza recommended defaulting to state law language for calendaring and runoff scheduling to avoid mismatches with statutory deadlines.

Hiring and governance roles: Committee members reviewed inconsistent hiring formulas in the charter — for example, varying clauses about which positions the city manager hires versus those the council must hire or confirm. Elza argued for clearer, consolidated language that preserves council oversight (the budget and hiring of the city manager) while giving the city manager authority needed to run day-to-day operations efficiently.

Franchise agreements and ordinances: Elza described franchise agreements with utilities and cable providers as lengthy, revenue-bearing contracts and said procedural rules that require reading long franchise text verbatim at multiple meetings are outdated. He suggested using captions or summaries for clarity while keeping public notice requirements intact.

Fines, bonds and nepotism: The committee discussed a $200 fine cap in the charter and whether to let fines conform to state-authorized maximums for health-and-safety violations. Elza also recommended revising extremely broad nepotism language so the city retains safeguards against nepotism without unduly restricting hiring in a small workforce. He noted the city’s current city-manager bond is set at $5,000 and suggested the council retain flexibility to set bonding levels by ordinance.

Process and outreach: Elza emphasized making the process public and urged committee members to help explain proposed changes to civic groups, school boards and county officials. He said the committee should draft ballot language that clearly explains what voters would be asked to approve.

No formal votes were taken. The committee reviewed the charter article-by-article, asked clarifying questions and asked Elza to bring draft ballot language to the next meeting.

Next steps: The committee scheduled a follow-up meeting for the 17th at 6:00 p.m. to continue drafting language and to decide which provisions to place on the ballot; Elza said staff will also coordinate public hearings attached to council meetings so residents can comment before any voter referendum.

Quotes

“We are going to post this meeting. We’re going to invite the media. We’re going to record this, and make this available for anybody that wants to see it,” Elza said, explaining the committee’s transparency plan.

“Anybody that is hurt, injured, damaged by the city . . . has to give notice within 30 days to the city secretary,” Elza said to illustrate an example of a charter provision he recommended aligning with modern practice.

What wasn’t decided: The committee did not adopt final wording for any charter amendment, take a formal vote on proposals, or commit to specific monetary limits or timelines; those items remain for future meetings and council review.

The committee expects to meet at least two more times to draft and refine ballot language before the council sets a final election schedule.