Last week, the Denton Charter Review Committee discussed two important issues that could impact voters and their future representation on the City Council: possible expansion of the council seats and elimination of at-large place seats.
Both issues relate to the explosive growth Denton has been experiencing for several years. Looking ahead, the city could see 30,000 people coming to southwestern Denton when two master-planned developments, Hunter Ranch and Cole Ranch, are finished in 10 to 20 years.
The committee talked about the possibility of turning the two at-large place council seats, which are elected by all Denton voters, into single-member district seats, which are elected by voters in their districts.
The benefits, supporters say, would be better neighborhood representation and council accountability. It could also make it more affordable for working-class people and retirees to seek office without having to turn to developers with active projects in the city for a boost in campaign funds.
This election season, council candidates spent between $25,000 and $95,000 on their campaigns for three at-large seats in citywide races, according to finance reports.
“You have to be independently wealthy or incredibly well connected outside your single district,” Pete Mungiguerra, a committee member, said at the Aug. 8 meeting. “That is a huge impediment for working people, retired folk, people who aren’t well connected with the folks on silk road. We need to make sure that these seats stay accessible to everybody in Denton, not just to people who are well connected and who can afford to run a citywide race.”
But the committee delayed a vote until Aug. 22 to give staff time to answer several questions and provide more information, such as a map that showcases what kind of growth is happening and where it’s occurring.
The committee voted 8-5 to delay the decision. One committee member was absent from the meeting.
Also next week, the committee will discuss whether an increase in council members’ stipends is needed and if council members’ terms should be extended from the current two years to three or four years.
Committee member Jesse Davis, a former council member, was among those who were reluctant to postpone the vote. He then decided that having more data and information would be a good move, especially if it helps members feel comfortable with their vote.
“I would also like to caution my fellow committee members to look out for the folks who want to talk to you after the meeting and say you nodded at the wrong time. You agreed with the wrong thing; you weren’t kind of on the page that you were supposed to be on,” Davis, who also cautioned about the Open Meetings Act, told committee members. “Remember that we are all here, not because our buddies on council put us here — we’re all here to make decisions for the city. And I know that we’re all strong-willed enough to do that. I just want to make sure everybody remembers that.”
The City Council will discuss recommendations by the committee over three work sessions in November and December. Any changes to the city charter will be on the ballot in May 2025 for voter consideration.
Last week, Davis claimed the current council system, which consists of three at-large seats and four single-member districts, has been working fine since 1980 when it was implemented.
Those who support the current system said it’s balanced, offering voters four council representatives via single-member districts and three at-large seats, including the mayor.
Committee member Nathaniel Johnson praised the at-large seats because they offer another voice for the community.
“It’s very important for Southeast Denton to have the at-large so he can come in and sit down and hear it for himself and then say at council, ‘Hey, that ain’t what I heard,’” Johnson said.
Davis also pointed out that the four single-member districts are able to overrule the three at-large members.
Committee member Julie Remski also questioned how much of Denton’s population and projected growth includes the growing population of students attending Denton’s two universities and community college.
Remski said, “If it ain’t broke, why are you trying to fix it?”
Mungiguerra said the idea of being able to select four people to represent their districts and three at-large members to represent all voters looks better on paper.
“But the reality is that I’m one voter out of thousands,” Mungiguerra said. “My vote isn’t going to have much weight as far as the final outcome.”
The single-member council districts, he said, offer more voter power to hold a council member accountable compared to the at-large districts that have thousands more voters.
Another issue with large voting swaths offered by at-large seats is the impact on marginalized groups, which, committee member Kristine Bray stressed, have been affected in Texas. Bray offered an anecdote about a Hispanic friend whose voting registration she said is removed every year, requiring them to reregister to vote in Texas.
“So we know that there are barriers that are put up,” Bray told committee members at the Aug. 8 meeting. “My personal opinion would be that we allow districts because they offer better representation of these marginalized groups.”
Then there’s the issue of where and what kind of growth is occurring in Denton and how it impacts voters in the at-large as well as single-member districts.
Mungiguerra mentioned that each council district had only about 12,000 people in 1980, when the current council system was implemented. Today, that number is about 35,500 per district.
And while multifamily complexes have been appearing around the city, District 4 is projected to receive significant single-family home growth from the Hunter Ranch and Cole Ranch developments in southwestern Denton, as committee members and staff discussed at the Aug. 8 meeting.
Historically, renters are less likely to vote than homeowners.
“That concerns me tremendously,” Mungiguerra said. “That is a tremendous amount of growth in a specific part of town. A lot of single-family homes and all in the southwest [of Denton] will have a disproportionate say about at-large or mayor [seats].”
“Political narrative that doesn’t track with the data” is how Davis described Mungiguerra’s concerns. He pointed out that the rest of Denton is projected to grow at the same rate.
City staff, however, didn’t have that data available at the Aug. 8 meeting.
Whether the projected growth is evenly distributed between renters in multifamily housing or homeowners in new single-family neighborhoods is another question.