The Denton City Council voted this week to approve nearly all of the nominees to a Charter Review Committee, which will begin meeting later this month to discuss possible updates to the city charter that could add additional council seats and possibly lengthen council members' terms.
Recommendations by the Charter Review Committee will appear on the May 2025 ballot.
On Tuesday evening, the nominations included:
- Margarita Venegas and Jane Zygiel, nominated by Vicki Byrd, District 1 council member
- Gabriel Kirkpatrick and Angela Brewer, nominated by Brian Beck of District 2 and a former mayor pro tem
- Peter Mungiguerra and Kristine Bray, nominated by Paul Meltzer of District 3 and the current mayor pro tem
- Julianne Remski and Weaver McClure, nominated by Joe Holland of District 4
- Lesly Molina Poer and Nathaniel Johnson, nominated by Brandon Chase McGee, Place 5
- Jesse Davis, a former City Council member, nominated by Jill Jester, the new Place 6 council member
- Jeremy Fykes and Michelle Jones, nominated by Mayor Gerard Hudspeth
Nearly all of the nominees were confirmed in one roundup vote, except for Beck’s nominees, Brewer and Kirkpatrick, who were pulled by Hudspeth for a separate vote.
Beck wasn't in attendance Tuesday night and couldn't be reached for comment Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Hudspeth said he was worried Brewer might use her position on the Charter Review Committee to promote her campaign because she is currently seeking the Texas House of Representatives District 64 seat as a Democrat.
Brewer was confirmed by a 4-2 vote.
Kirkpatrick’s nomination was pulled Tuesday night because Hudspeth said he didn’t like that he had worked as a contractor for Meltzer’s, McGee’s and Byrd’s campaigns.
“I can’t support Mr. Kirkpatrick because he’d been paid $14,000 by sitting council members, and I can’t do that,” Hudspeth told council members.
Kirkpatrick’s nomination ended with a tie vote, 3-3, and will return to the next council meeting.
The Charter Review Committee will meet biweekly from July to December, with a minimum of eight meetings.
Some of the charter updates they'll discuss and consider include modifying the mix of single-member and at-large districts, increasing the two-year term for council members, either to three- or four-year terms, and adding seats based on population size and projected growth, according to a May 21 staff presentation.
In a March 19 presentation, staff offered best-practice recommendations from the National Civic League’s Model Charter and the Texas Municipal League’s Texas General Home Rule Charter.
The National Civic League, a nonpartisan nonprofit focused on civic engagement, recommends five to nine members, with four-year staggered terms and no term limits in its Model Charter.
However, staff pointed out that a majority of Texas cities call for two-year staggered terms, and while more than 95% have staggered terms, only 41% have term limits in place for council members.
If the Charter Review Committee recommended adding council districts, that could require outside legal counsel review because of Voting Rights Act implications, according to a March 19 presentation.
Also in the March presentation, city staff offered comparisons of district and at-large council member representation in several area cities, including Arlington, Frisco and Irving, which are larger than Denton, which has about 142,000 residents.
Denton has four district seats — voted on by residents who live in each district — and three at-large seats, including mayor, with staggered two-year terms. A council member is limited to three consecutive terms.
In comparison, Arlington (population 393,469) and Irving (population 254,962) have five and six districts, respectively, nine council members who serve for three years, and term limits of three consecutive terms.
Frisco (population 202,075) has seven council members for at-large seats who serve three-year staggered terms with a limit of three consecutive terms.
Other comparable cities to Denton that the city staff included were Carrollton (132,284) and Lewisville (125,028).
Carrollton has eight council members in at-large districts who serve three-year staggered terms with no term limits. Lewisville has seven council members who serve three years for six districts and no term limits.
The Charter Review Committee will also determine whether the mayor and council members receive an adjustment to their stipends and discuss updates to resolve conflicts with state law, resolve vague and unclear language and replace gendered language and nongendered language.
Dustin Sternbeck, the city’s chief spokesperson, said the monthly stipend is $1,000 for the mayor and $750 for council members. The stipend was established in 2017 and has not changed since, and Sternbeck said there are no stipulations for how council members spend the money.
“The Council did not provide a proposed amount, so there is no proposal at this time,” Sternbeck said in an email Wednesday. “The charge simply allows them to consider modifying the stipend, so the committee will be responsible for a proposed amount should they decide to recommend it be changed.”
Other possible changes to the City Charter include:
- Increasing the two-year term of the municipal judge to a four-year term.
- Modifying the ethics ordinance requirements.
The charter election timeline is as follows, according to the late May staff presentation:
- November-December 2024: Committee will present recommendations to the council over three work sessions.
- January 2025: The council will call the election.
- January-May 2025: informational campaign
- May 3, 2025: election