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Franklin council approves package of charter amendments for November ballot
Summary
The Franklin City Council voted unanimously to place five charter amendment measures on the Nov. 7, 2017 ballot, including making civil service appointments explicitly nonpartisan and aligning competitive-bidding thresholds with state law.
The Franklin City Council voted unanimously Monday to place a bundle of charter amendments on the Nov. 7, 2017 ballot, measures Law Director Donnette Fisher said will modernize procedural and administrative language in the city charter.
Fisher told council the Charter Review Commission recommended removing a partisan limitation on the Civil Service Commission so appointments are nonpartisan, saying, "The Civil Service appointments should be nonpartisan, just like the municipal elections and appointments to all other City Boards and Commissions are." The council adopted Ordinance 2017-13 to effect that change.
Other approved charter amendments will reduce the number of technical-code copies the city clerk must keep from three to one and remove a requirement to keep copies on hand for sale, update language to mirror statewide competitive-bidding thresholds rather than a fixed $25,000 figure, and make housekeeping changes to classification language for department assistants and court personnel. Council also approved a change reducing on-site property-sale postings from two to one while adding an exception allowing city-owned property to be sold to another governmental entity with a five-member affirmative vote without a separate resolution waiving bidding requirements.
"The Charter requires that the City follow the State’s competitive bidding laws," Fisher said, explaining the $25,000 figure in the charter reflected the state threshold in 2002 and no longer matched current state practice.
Each ordinance was introduced at public hearing with no public comment and then adopted by a recorded roll-call vote; every measure received unanimous support in the meeting's recorded votes.
The measures will appear as separate ballot items on Nov. 7, 2017. If passed by voters, they will update the charter's procurement, posting, personnel-classification, and civil-service provisions; council members noted that budgetary or approval steps for purchases remain controlled through the city's normal appropriation process.
