ENID, OK - Tuesday night at the Enid City Commission Study Session, the commissioners discussed possible City Charter changes. Some of the items were old and need to be updated and cleaned up. (see video of meeting below)
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City Attorney, Andrea Chism, drafted possible changes and pointed out areas that needed to be cleaned up. There was confusing language that remained in the Charter about the Oklahoma Competitive Bidding Act. The first change would be to follow the notice requirements set by state law.
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The second change was to remove the section on the Board of Education. Chism pointed out it had been a very long time since the City of Enid had anything to do with the school system which is now under the State. It would be repealed completely.
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The third section is a Poll Tax authorized back in the 1930's that is now unconstitutional. That section would be removed.
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Chism said changes needed to be made for applicants for firefighters and policemen. Applicants would have to be in compliance with the rules of the Oklahoma Firefighters Pension and Retirement system because they have maximum ages for which you can apply. The same changes would be made to police applicants.
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Another change deals with a section that says an applicant needs to be a citizen of the United States to work in the fire or police departments. A prior applicant, that was a legal resident authorized under federal law to work in the U.S., was not hired due to the rule and he was given a letter to sue by the EOC. He did not sue the City of Enid but Chism felt he could have.
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Old language for the formation of the Park Board would be removed and would not affect the current Park Board.
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The State said they would not hold elections for municipalities on any days other that Tuesdays. The City Charter states that elections would be held on the first Tuesday of February but needs to be changed to the second Tuesday.
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Chism addressed the Open Meeting Act language that needed to be cleaned up. The City of Enid will follow in accordance with the Oklahoma's Open Meeting Act.
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Another change Chism suggested was to make resolutions effective immediately while ordinances would become effective 30 days after they are adopted and published. Chism stated, "For our budget, every year on our budget we have to approve the budget even earlier than any other city does because we have that language in our Charter."
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Other requested changes deal with our City Manager form of government. Requested changes included commissioners being elected at large ( a vote of all wards) but represent the wards in which they live and then there would be a stipend (pay) for commissioners and mayor.
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The amount of pay recommended to the commission would be $12,500 for mayor and $10,000 for each commissioner annually.
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New language also says a candidate would need to live in their ward for six months prior to the election. Another suggested change would be that all candidates be elected by a city wide vote rather than just ward elections, which is the system used in the past.
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Commissioner Ron Janzen thought the change was made in the mid 90's due to the fact that some east side residents felt they were not getting fair representation. Janzen said, "I didn't think then and I certainly don't think now that Enid is a large enough city to have ward elections. We don't have any ward politics here. Anything that we do affects the whole city."
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Commissioner Ben Ezzell told about his father running for the City of Enid commission in the past having won the at large vote but lost his ward. Ezzell stated that some residents were not too pleased with that result. Commissioner Ezzell is not in favor of changing back to an at large vote and is not comfortable trying to sell any of these changes to residents. Each ordinance would need to be approved by a vote of the people.
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Commissioner Tammy Wilson favors the ward vote as opposed to a citywide vote. Commissioner Jonathan Waddell said, "If you can't win your ward quite frankly you shouldn't have the seat." He also said he felt the commission was progressing and moving forward but voting at large would be moving backwards.
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Mayor Shewey was not in favor of having the entire city vote for someone in a particular ward. Commissioner Wilson talked about the fact that each commissioner works for the entire community. Commissioner Aaron Brownlee pointed out that all votes weigh exactly the same from each commissioner. He felt that our population was not large enough to qualify having six different ward elections.
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Brownlee said, "If somebody calls from Tammy's ward, I'm going to take the call and try to help. I don't defer that to Tammy." He felt if commissioners are elected by ward then the proper protocol would be to defer problems and concerns to the ward it pertains to.
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Commissioner George Pankonin is in favor of ward voting. He said, "The constituents in your ward feel like they have somebody at the table that represents them." He also brought up the fact that not all wards are divided equally. That comment started a discussion about bringing ward lines up-to-date so boundaries are more even. The boundary data is based on the latest census which takes place several years away.
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Commissioner Waddell pointed out that he recently won his ward with a very weak turnout. He wondered if the election had been at large if the outcome would have been different and would that have been reflective of what the voters in the ward would have wanted.
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The next change suggested by Commissioner Brownlee was doing away with term limits. Several people brought up the fact that many cities do not have term limits. Brownlee could not get behind the idea of losing the history and education that comes along with sitting on the counsel for four or eight years just because there is a statute that says that a commissioner can't go any further.
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As far as the proposed compensation plan, Commissioner Brownlee wanted it to be clear that no sitting commissioner could benefit from that change in the Charter. It would only benefit future commissioners. Brownlee explained how much time is involved in being a volunteer commissioner.
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Mayor Shewey reminded the commission that each commissioner knows before their election that they will not get paid. Commissioner Wilson said that many residents are surprised to learn that the mayor and commissioners do not get paid. She called being a commissioner a part-time job.
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Commissioner Janzen suggested lowering the proposed amount. Brownlee was open to any amount suggested and felt that future commissions could be stronger with some level of compensation. Janzen suggested cutting the proposed amount in half. Other cities do pay their commissioners something.
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Stillwater pays $50 a meeting, Moore and Norman pay $100 a month, Muskogee offers no pay but rather a cell phone stipend and Lawton pays $5,000 a year much like the suggestion for Enid. Mayors also receive compensation packages with Lawton paying $15,000.
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Commissioner Ezzell reminded everyone that none of the changes needed to be made at all. None of the outdated language would change the application of the law. He felt that if the commission did nothing nobody would be hurt. He felt the rest of the suggestions might not be worth pursuing at this time and there would be a time and money savings to not move forward with any changes.
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The commissioners decided to allow Chism to continue working on the changes and they are going to look at it in a month. City Manager Jerald Gilbert stated that the commission would have up until 60 to 75 days before the election for a final decision. The commission can wait until November to vote on the changes.
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All of these changes would need to be approved separately by the citizens in a special election. It would cost the City of Enid $22,000 to hold a stand alone election. To piggyback the election on another election that is already set it would only cost $11,000. The next scheduled election would be February 2018.
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City Commission To Look At Charter Changes
