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Committee advances Lexington charter change giving mayor expanded executive authority
Summary
Chairman Martin said the private charter change for Lexington designates the mayor as chief executive with authority to request staff reports and suspend employees (appeal to the board is allowed); members pressed for due-process details before the bill advanced.
Chairman Martin (speaker 6) presented House Bill 26-62 as a private charter change for the City of Lexington, Tennessee, that specifies the mayor as the chief executive officer, grants oversight over city operations, allows the mayor to request reports from staff, and authorizes suspension of employees for misconduct with board approval.
"What it's doing is giving clarifying that the mayor is the chief executive officer," Martin said, adding the charter language also "establishes that he or she is a full time mayor in the new current charter." Representative Pearson (speaker 3) questioned whether the suspension process provided adequate due process and asked whether an appeal timeline or procedure was defined; Martin said the language was newly provided by the city and he did not have specific timing information.
Legal counsel (Doug Garrett, speaker 4) offered to research the procedural details. After discussion, the committee voted to advance House Bill 26-62; the clerk recorded 11 ayes and 1 no.
