Council to revisit recent charter changes; member Agnelli to draft clarifying edits

The meeting’s agenda included three ordinance items (2520, 2524, 2525) that implement charter changes to mayoral responsibilities, the treasurer role and council powers. The Chair asked the council whether the new language worked in practice; several councilmembers said it did not.

Councilmember Agnelli and others identified specific passages they said were internally inconsistent — for example, one section still calls the mayor “chief executive officer” while another assigns day-to-day operations and department supervision to the city manager. Agnelli said that, as written, the charter created “nebulous disposition of authority.” Councilmember Briana and others described their intent: shift daily operations to a professional city manager but retain mayoral veto and budget-priority roles; they acknowledged the draft may not be specific enough for day-to-day implementation.

Maisha, the city manager, told the council that the language was internally contradictory in places and offered to identify concrete pain points — specific duties and tasks where authority is unclear — to help guide redrafting. The council asked Agnelli to prepare draft edits, and members agreed to work through one chapter at a time and to use the public hearing process required for charter amendments.

The council did not vote on charter changes during this meeting; instead, members agreed on a process: the administration will supply examples of unclear operational responsibilities and Agnelli will draft clarifications for future consideration and public hearings.