As the April municipal election nears, a collection of amendments to the Jefferson City charter are going through the processes necessary to be placed on the ballot.
In January 2018, the Jefferson City Council created the Jefferson City Charter Review Advisory Committee, which reviewed the charter for several months and made recommendations. While voters approved a few charter amendments in April, there were some recommended charter changes the council did not send to voters.
Some of those changes are now coming before council. To be placed on the ballot for public vote, charter changes must be approved by the council.
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During Monday's meeting, the council approved one portion of changes which includes:
- Adding incapacity as a reason for removal for the mayor and council members.
- Specifying the mayor can't hold any other city office or city employment.
- A new subsection allows for the removal of the mayor by a four-fifths majority vote from council for the same reasons already given for council members, including conviction of a felony, failure to attend three consecutive meetings without just cause, or being incapacitated from fulfilling their duties.
- A "grandfathering clause" stating all current elected and appointed officials would continue to hold their office after charter amendments take place, until the end of their terms. Current office holders will not lose their office because of city charter changes that may disqualify them.
The approved changes also include some general changes like removing gender-specific language (councilman versus council member) throughout the charter and eliminating dates no longer effective. These approved changes will be added to the April ballot.
Three other sections of charter changes were introduced at Monday's council meeting, including rules on incompatible offices, residency requirements for some members of city staff and some legislative procedures.
One charter amendment would add language clarifying rules about prohibitions and incompatible offices.
The proposed change would state no former council member or mayor can hold a compensated, appointive city office or employment until two years after the expiration of the term for which they were elected.
The amendment would also prohibit council members or mayors from being a publicly elected member of the governing body or any political subdivision of the state, a member of the General Assembly of Missouri or any other statewide office.
These rules would also apply to the city administrator, city clerk, department directors and members of the parks commission.
The council also discussed a charter amendment to the residency requirements of the city clerk, city administrator and city counselor, modifying the requirement to allow a six-month grace period for a person to move into the city after appointment to their position.
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The grace period could also be extended for another six months, by a vote from the council, if needed.
The final proposed change introduced to council Monday relates to legislative procedures of the council itself.
Changes would include giving the primary bill sponsor the sole ability to place a bill on the informal calendar. The bill sponsor or a majority vote from the council would be able to pull a bill off the informal calendar.
The amendment would also add to the code the current council practices that any member of the council can call for a full reading of a bill and any council member can request suspension of the rule requiring 96 hours between first reading and final passage of a bill.
For these and any other charter changes to be placed on the April ballot, they must be approved by the next council meeting Jan. 21.