Sweet Home attorney, committee propose broad charter revisions; council asks for redlined text and ballot options

City Attorney Blair Larson and members of the Charter Review Committee walked the Sweet Home City Council through a package of proposed changes to the city charter at a Jan. work session, urging careful review and pointing to legal risk in one provision the committee narrowed after a federal court decision.

Larson said the committee spent months reviewing the charter line-by-line and recommended updates ranging from formatting and modernized job titles to substantive changes affecting vacancies, residency, and the council’s relationship with city staff. "I recommend that you pay very careful attention to the changes that they're recommending," Larson said, adding the committee also pared back language that could be vulnerable to a First Amendment challenge in light of a case involving the City of Corvallis.

Why it matters: The charter defines how Sweet Home’s government operates. The council must decide which proposed changes, if any, to send to voters and how to package them on the ballot — as a single new charter or as multiple, single-subject measures — a choice with legal and political consequences.

Key proposals and council concerns Larson summarized several substantive proposals: adding a chapter-1 statement clarifying when…