Salary increases for Fort Worth council members and clarifying the city manager’s authority could soon be on the ballot.
Fort Worth residents may see eight proposed amendments to the city charter during the May 2 elections after council members appeared receptive to city staff’s recommendations during a Tuesday work session.
However, some expressed concern that — if the city is not careful about how it presents and words the proposed changes — voters will shut the efforts down.
“Hopefully, it’s super easy to read, like: ‘Here’s what (the amendment) is going to say. Here’s what it means, and here’s why,’” council member Charles Lauersdorf said. “Right now, government’s messy, and there’s a lot of distrust with government.”
City Council plans to call for the special election on Feb. 10, officials said. If council members don’t do so by Feb. 13, the next available option would be in November.
One measure would about double the mayor’s and council members’ salaries from $29,000 and $25,000, respectively, to $60,000 and $50,000. If approved in May, the pay raises would go into effect in October, at the start of the 2027 fiscal year.
Similar raises were shot down by about two-thirds of voters in 2016, when a proposal would have given the mayor $60,000 and council members’ $45,000.
In 2022, Fort Worth voters narrowly opposed a 2022 charter amendment that would have increased the mayor’s pay to half the average salary of city department directors and council members’ to half the average salary of assistant department directors.
The charter serves as the playbook for a city’s government structure and outlines the powers and responsibilities of its elected officials, according to the National Civic League.
Municipalities may call a charter election once every two years to ask residents to authorize or reject amendments proposed by their city council.
Several amendments seek to expand and clarify city manager’s authority
Other amendments would expand or clarify City Manager Jay Chapa’s authority to make decisions without approval from the council, officials said.
One amendment seeks to give the city manager the power to create, abolish and consolidate departments without a council vote, as long as those areas are not required by city charter.
Currently, the charter requires council members to approve such changes. Gavin Midgley, an assistant city attorney, said the requirement “limits the organizational control of the city manager,” who has broad administrative authority already under Fort Worth’s structure of government.
The city manager is hired and reviewed annually by the City Council.
Another amendment would change how a city manager terminates department directors by removing a provision that allows the employees — if they’ve held their positions for at least six months — to demand a written statement and a hearing in front of council before being terminated.
A similar entitlement for council appointees would be erased under another proposed amendment.
Midgley said the hearing requirements are also “in conflict with” Fort Worth’s structure of government, as the city manager can fire staff without council approval. Such hearings — which rarely crop up — often only open the door to mudslinging between the city and an outgoing employee, he added.
“If the city manager elects to remove a department director, an appeal to council really doesn’t change anything, as council doesn’t have the correct authority to rehire or continue to employ a department director,” Midgley said.
City Attorney Leann Guzman said city leaders would rather deal with such conflicts and allegations in court rather than in a public City Council meeting.
Meanwhile, another amendment would remove requiring council approval to make a company a city-sanctioned garbage and recycling hauler. If passed, city staff could recognize such haulers through a process known as “Granting of Privilege.”
City Council already has rolled out requirements for companies seeking to become a garbage hauler, Midgley said, so the additional council approval is unnecessary.
Amendments seek to remove ‘additional complexities’
Other amendments aim to further streamline processes, staff said.
Council members could approve the city’s yearly budget at the same meeting that the city holds a public hearing, where residents can speak to council about the budget, according to one proposal.
Council members currently must wait until another meeting to adopt the budget, which is not required by law, Midgley said. The requirement creates “additional complexity in an already complex process,” he said.
Another proposed amendment would remove the requirement for the Fort Worth public utilities to create annual reports for council. The final proposal could change some of the charter’s timelines for calling special elections to comply with state law.
City Council members shut down one amendment recommended by city staff that would have reduced the number of council members required to hold a public meeting from two-thirds to a simple majority, or six out of 11.
“Since I’ve been on the council, there has never been a time when we have not had a quorum,” said council member Deborah Peoples, who was elected last May. “The public expects us to be there to take care of business.”
To pass any votes during meetings, council would still need a majority of all 11 council seats, not just a majority of those in attendance.
The amendments would appear lower on residents’ ballots, below the city’s $845 million bond proposal.
This spring’s ballot also will include at least one City Council seat as Alan Blaylock steps down to run for a seat in the Texas House representing Fort Worth.
Drew Shaw is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at drew.shaw@fortworthreport.org or @shawlings601.
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