Election issues, Celina Record

Celina City Council, school board candidates share ballot with charter measures Lisa Ferguson, lferguson@starlocalmedia.com May 5, 2016 The Celina City Council general election Saturday will be combined with a special election for the Celina ISD Board of Trustees. Mayor Pro Tem Chad Anderson is running unopposed to retain his Place 6 spot on the council, while incumbent Erik Geiger and one-time council member William Webber will square off over Place 1. Meanwhile, the school board voted earlier this year to cancel its general election in favor of a special election during which current board member Brooks Barr and challenger Wendie Wigginton will face off for Place 4. Also on the ballot are eight propositions that could amend the city’s home-rule charter, which contains its rules for self-government. (To view a sample ballot, visit collincountytx.gov/elections/election_information/Sample%20Ballot%20Documents/BS9.pdf.) Celina’s charter was adopted in 2007 after the city’s population reached 5,000, explained City Attorney Lance Vanzant. In the years since, “There has been quite a bit of change in state law,” he said. “Some of our provisions contained in our initial charter became inconsistent with state law, so we wanted to revise that and make it consistent.” The amendments equate to performing routine maintenance on the charter, Vanzant said, calling them “technical changes.” Some cities go years without making amendments to their charters while others amend them more frequently. This is the first time Celina has attempted to amend its home-rule charter, although it likely will not be the last. “It just depends on the growth of the city and the priorities of future city leaders and what they’d like to see set forth in the charter,” Vanzant said. A majority of the vote is needed for each proposition to pass. They will be enacted once the election is certified, usually within 30 days, he said. Whether or not the propositions pass, Vanzant said most residents likely will not notice “any major changes in how the city operates.” Even minor grammar and punctuation changes within the charter require a vote to be changed, he explained. Hence, Proposition 1, which calls for the document to be amended to correct such things as misspellings, punctuation and sentence structure, as well “revise references to obsolete provisions of state law and conform notice and publication requirements to state law.” “You’ll almost always see that provision in an amendment election,” Vanzant said, as cities “go through and maybe simplify something or define a word or change a word.” Among the other propositions on this year’s ballot are a pair concerning members of the City Council and candidates running for other elected positions within city government. Proposition 4 questions whether the charter should be altered to clarify age requirements for candidates, as well as residency requirements for City Council members. “You never know when the state is going to come in and change” those requirements, he said and reminded that the city “can’t have requirements for candidates that are inconsistent with state law.” Proposition 5 calls for the charter to be amended to provide compensation to City Council members. Council members are neither compensated for their work, nor would they be should the ballot measure pass, Vanzant explained. “It just gives the option in the future that the City Council could vote on that,” he said. “It’s giving the council the right to make a change if they elect to, but the charter provision doesn’t make any changes.”