Council directs staff to draft charter revisions on appointments, moves boards and commissions to ordinance oversight

Crockett City Council gave staff and the city attorney direction to prepare charter revisions focused on appointment and hiring authority after staff highlighted conflicting provisions in the charter.

City Administrator (unnamed) explained that the charter contains inconsistent language about who appoints department heads and key personnel, with different sections naming the mayor, the council or the city administrator. He said that those contradictions make compliance difficult and recommended moving procedural hiring rules to policy and removing boards and commissions from the charter so they can be governed by ordinance.

"Appointments are city administrator, police chief, fire chief, city attorney, city judge, and city secretary," the administrator said while explaining multiple, conflicting charter provisions. He recommended keeping council nomination and appointment oversight for those key positions while allowing routine hiring under department heads and policy procedures.

Councilors discussed chain-of-command concerns, the use of hiring panels and grievance processes, and agreed that preserving council oversight of certain key appointments while removing boards and commissions from the charter would add clarity. On a motion, council authorized staff and the city attorney to draft the recommended charter language and to prepare ordinances moving boards and commissions under council oversight. The motion carried on a voice vote.

Next steps: staff and the city attorney will draft proposed charter amendments and ordinance language for council consideration and eventual public vote if a charter amendment is required.