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Charter panel approves letter urging council to review proposed limits on mayoral contracting
Summary
The commission approved a revised letter to City Council expressing concerns and asking for the council's focus on ordinance 2026-23, which would require prior council approval for contracts over $50,000; members debated whether the commission should formally weigh in and some said they would attend the council reading.
The Charter Review Commission approved a revised letter to city council asking that council "focus on this subject" regarding proposed ordinance 2026-23, which would impose a $50,000 prior-approval threshold for mayoral and administrative contracting.
Members debated whether the commission should send a formal letter. Some said the commission would overstep if it declared the ordinance an unlawful charter change; others said the commission should register concerns because the ordinance affects separation of powers between the legislative and executive branches. One member said the commission wanted to "get them to slow it down until they really thought about what they're doing." The Chair emphasized that the commission's letter was meant as a recommendation and not a council directive.
The commission voted to approve the letter with a wording change to the final sentence (ending: "the commission asked for the council's focus on this subject."). The vote was carried by roll call. Several commissioners said they planned to attend the council reading to speak in person; the commission also agreed staff should circulate the letter and the accompanying legal citations.
Commissioners also discussed a separate charter insertion (Article 3, Section 11) about Planned Unit Development (PUD) language that passed at the November 2024 ballot but had not yet been codified by American Legal Publishing; members noted the PUD language requires certain PUD rezoning decisions to be submitted to electors and said the codification was pending.
