Planning & Zoning - Regular Meeting

to get away with stuff today.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

I just don't want anybody that's not supposed to be here in the meeting.

an open meeting it's an open meeting okay

That's cool. how does this uh

She does.

Like TML and. Uh. Congratulations. Thank you. This is great.

Okay.

Are we good to start? We have a quorum. So we have a quorum, so we're going to start. Noticeable public meeting of the Charter Review Committee of the City of Brownsville, pursuant to Chapter 551, Title 5 of the Texas Government Code. The Open Meetings Act notice is heard by, given that the Charter Review Committee of the City of Brownsville, Texas, in accordance with Article 5, Section 12 of the Charter of the State City, will commit an irregular meeting on wednesday april 1st 2026 at 12 p.m in the commission chambers on the second floor of brownville city hall um i see that we have a quorum um we started the meeting at till 7 p.m next item is serene we have must if not all of the members already spraying so that's okay we can move to the next item uh which is called order so We have Liliana Elizondo, Commissioner Neri Kalonsky, Daniel Salinas, Evaristo Cardenas, and Aaron Rendon, which is absent. Next, we have public comment period. The Office of the City Secretary did not receive any public comment. Next, we have items for individual consideration. First item is consideration and action to appoint a chair and vice chair.

I would motion to wait till the remaining members are here. That way it would be easier in case one of them would have wanted to be a vice chair Okay.

For this particular meeting, do you want to have just a temporary chair to run this meeting?

Are we still waiting on someone? Like, do we know that someone's going to show up and maybe they're just caught in traffic?

Well, we do have Judge Rendon who's, I don't know if he had indicated that he would be able to make this particular meeting, but we do have two appointees that could not serve. Oops.

could not serve and so we're taking it back to city commission to have those appointments filled okay so i think we should probably appoint someone just in the meantime just to lead the meeting since we have a quorum and that way we can move further hi welcome um so anyone wants to take the lead any takers i'll go ahead and do it in case you're worried about it but um Yeah, it's just for the purpose of getting this meeting to move along.

Right, right, right. So do you want to amend your motion to include?

I haven't made a motion yet. I was just, it was discussion.

I would consider his motion a motion. Okay.

Okay, I'll second it.

Yes, person a 2nd.

So, all those in favor. Hi. Hi. Great. And so are we taking a vote for vice or were we just agreeing that, um. That someone has to lead the move the meeting and I'll go ahead and do it since I volunteered.

Right? Yeah. So, I think the motion included that. So you're the, you're the chair for this meeting.

Okay.

Move us along.

I was the 1 who least wanted to be here, but okay. That's okay. Oh, no, it's fine.

um okay well so moving along um let's see the next thing is presentation and work session presentation oh sorry i took your you i'm here it's fine you let me know presentations updates um and work sessions item number one presentation by city attorney's office related to our review committee as directed by city commission

So just to kind of give you a little bit of a background on why we're here and what this is all about and how we kind of got here. As you all know, you know, you all were appointed to be members of this committee to make recommendations on amendments to the city charter. Just some little background information on where this comes from. The Constitution says Article 11, Section 5 states that cities having more than 5,000 inhabitants may, by majority vote, have an election which would adopt or amend their city charter. Now, adopting or amending the city charter is subject to certain limitations such that it cannot have any provision that is inconsistent with state law or the general laws enacted by And then we go with state law and the constitution of the state. So another requirement imposed by the Texas constitution is that no city charter can be altered or amended or repealed any sooner than two years. So that means that you can only have a charter election to amend the city charter every two years. It cannot be sooner than that. So that's what the Texas constitution requires for this particular matter. Now regarding the Texas state law regarding this matter, the governing body of a municipality, in this case obviously the city commission of the city of Brownsville, may on its own motion submit a proposed charter amendment to qualified voters for approval at an election. So that's essentially what's gonna happen here. We would be guiding you all in proposing certain amendments and then depending on what you guys recommend, then the city commission will then order an election on whether to have that presented to the voters of the city. There's specific dates of when those things can happen, and those are prescribed by the election code. And for that reason, that's why we're going to go over the dates and kind of a timeline of what we're looking at here to get these proposals to the city commission in time to be able to order that election. One other thing that's important that the Texas local government code includes is that each amendment may not contain more than one subject. So it needs to be specific as to what is being amended or repealed. And it needs to be Uh, there's certain rules in how it needs to be worded and how it gets put on the ballot, but all of that will go over as we get there. But just to give you all a general idea of what we're doing. Um. In regards to the differences between ordinances versus charter provisions, an ordinance is essentially a local law that the city commission approves. Similar to legislators in Austin where they create laws that apply to the whole state, an ordinance is something that the city commission creates or adopts a law for all City of Brownsville residents to follow. As opposed to the charter, a charter is essentially like the constitution of the city right so uh it's similar kind of the constitution of the united states or the texas constitution they don't they're not intended to solve day-to-day issues they're kind of they're more like an overall like this is the law of the land and then the ordinances are specific okay this is what the specific law is for this particular matter for this particular thing so essentially the charter is created to establish the four corners of the operation of city government And like I said earlier, the charter isn't something that should be amended at every single election. And it also requires that amendments can only be done every two years. So just some tips for drafting these amendments. We just want it to be plain English. We want it to kind of just be simple to understand what the definitions are, if they need to be defined, just writing what you mean, being consistent. eliminating any kind of duplicative language that can make something be confusing um we would be need to be aware of whatever is being amended is applicable to a particular city ordinance like we talked about earlier where it's a particular law for of a specific thing or of or the city charter where it's more overall more um you know, four corners of our city government kind of thing. So just to kind of keep in mind of when we're figuring out those particular amendments. And then we also need to make sure that we leave room for state statutory requirements, because like the law requires every provision in the city charter needs to comply with state law. So we want to make sure that when we're making an amendment, it kind of leaves room so that if the state law changes, we don't need to go back and change the city charter. kind of a good idea to kind of leave room. If it changes, we are still covered with what we are doing in our city charter. So just some recommendations as far as how we're going to kind of move this along. It's a good idea to just kind of create a list and establish the priorities early of what the idea of how we're going to, you know, progress with these meetings. It's a good idea to kind of limit the meetings to one and a half to two hours. That way it's not too tedious for you all and we can kind of I mean, if it's shorter, that's fine too, but just depending on planning, kind of keeping in mind that we don't want to put maybe too many things on the agenda. We might, you know, just to kind of keep it to one and a half to two hours at the maximum. We have two options with two elections that are coming up. So, let me kind of go, let me go over this. This is the resolution that city commission passed regarding the charter review committee, regarding this committee, right? There are certain requirements in here that are exactly what you all are going to be doing. And I'll go over that in a little bit. But specifically what I want to point to is the fact that they left room for proposed amendments to be presented at either the November election that's coming up this year, or the May election of next year. So going back to my summary, I'm sorry, going back to, oh wait, sorry, sorry, sorry. Okay, so here, if we have progressed enough in the proposals in the report that you all would need to be presenting to the city commission with what you all are proposing to be amended um if we're ready to go by august then we would need to present that report to the city commission at the august 4th 2026 meeting the reason for that is because there's a deadline that the city commission would need to comply with in order to order the November 26 election. Okay. So if, like I said, we can have meetings until then, until August, If we're ready to go and if you all are done with what they charged you with amending and proposing, then we can present at that meeting. They can order the election if they choose to and then move forward with these proposed amendments being put on that November 2026 election. If we're not ready and you all want a little bit more time to make your proposals and make your report that's going to be presented to the city commission, then we have the option of presenting it at the May 2027 election, okay? So if we do go past that August date, that's fine. I mean, it's totally up to you all. We would just need to present that report of your all's proposals By January, I think it needs to be by February. But just to be safe, I put the January 2027 meeting. I don't have I didn't have the date yet of when it's set. But I was kind of thinking, I mean, obviously, we'll know once we get closer to that time frame if we need to. But I was thinking we could present it to them at the second January 2027 meeting. So that way they have time to order the election in February. But that's just kind of some dates to keep in mind. So again, this is the resolution that was passed regarding what you all are charged with doing. A summary of this, the things that specifically that you all will be addressing to possibly amend is article five administrative provisions in the city charter. So these are provisions that are already in the city charter that you all would be looking at to possibly amend. One of them is section 13, which is compensation of council members and the mayor, audit and oversight committee, which is in section 28A, as well as campaign finance and possibly disciplinary provisions for city commission members. Those two last matters, if I'm not mistaken, are not in the city charter right now. So that would be something that we would need to prepare, you know, scratch it wouldn't be amending it like it wouldn't be tweaking words that's already there would be giving new language uh just to give you an idea so those are the specific things that this committee was charged with working on and to provide proposals to the city commission Technical and other amendments that are required to bring the city charter into compliance with federal and state changes are items that can be brought forward to this committee by the city manager or the city attorney. At this time, I'm not sure if there's any, but if there are, that would be something that we would present to you all. as well as any other charter provisions that are recommended by the city commission as necessary and prudent for you all to review. At this time, there's nothing additional other than what's in the resolution already, which are those four things up at the top. The resolution also requires there be at least four public hearings and that you all can meet monthly at at least two locations throughout the city in order to solicit community feedback. So I was thinking we could obviously have some meetings here at City Hall, and we could probably also have some meetings at the Convention Center, depending on availability. But that's what we're thinking of doing. Then it says that you all must make final recommendations to the City Commission by Monday, August 17th, which would be for the City Commission to order the November election. or Friday, February 12th, 2027 for the commission to order the May 2027 election. Okay, so it could be either one. Like I said, if we don't get it done in time for the November election, we still have plenty of time to get it done for the next election. The resolution also says that the city commission needs to hold a public hearing at its regular city commission meeting on or before August 17th or February 12th on the preliminary draft of the proposed city charter amendment. So again, those dates are gonna depend on wherever we fall and whenever we're ready to present the report. The city commission has the final determination concerning whether and when to hold a city charter amendment election and the propositions to be submitted to the voters at that election. The Charter Review Committee serves at the pleasure of the City Commission and shall serve unless or until replaced by the City Commission and shall be subject to rules applicable to other City boards and commissions, including the City's Ethics Ordinance, which is under Chapter 38 of the City's Code of Ordinances. The Charter Review Committee shall cease to exist upon the accomplishment of the purpose for which it was created, unless earlier abolished by a majority vote of the City Commission. and the city attorney's office and the city secretary's office shall serve as the board's liaisons. So this kind of gets us into items for individual consideration. I don't know how, if you want me to go through it this way or how we want to kind of do it. These are essentially the possible meeting dates. But I guess if you want to

Yeah, items for individual consideration, consideration and action approving future charter review meeting dates.

So obviously today, April 1st, is our meeting. We're here. These are literally all the dates in which we can have our next meetings. Up until August 3rd, which would be the last day before, the last day that we could possibly meet before presenting to the city commission at their August 4th city commission meeting. Because August 17th is the last day for, like I said, them to order that November election. And so that August 4th meeting kind of gives a little bit of time to present your all's recommendations to them. And if there needs to be an additional meeting, that would need to be held before August 17th. I recommend meeting once a month. That would get us with our four meetings that are required by the resolution. We've already had a meeting this month. We could have one meeting in May. one in June, one in July, and even maybe one in August right before, I guess kind of depending on where we're at, if you all are ready to present at that August meeting or not. But at the very least, I think we could do that. But it's up to you all if you all want to maybe have something different. I mean, it's totally up to you all. But these are just kind of all the different dates that all can can make them and we would also recommend already having them scheduled that way everybody's aware okay this date is when we're going to meet um it's a good idea to keep them i know like with other boards we have consistency as far as okay this committee meets on the third wednesday of every month at this time and we could keep it at this time at noon that way it's the same and everybody's aware okay you know what this day i know i'm going to need to be uh present at the meeting and also for the public so that the public is aware of you know just the consistency of when the meetings are going to be held and if they want to participate or or be involved um but i'll go ahead and defer to you all and how you all would like to go about that i would just say that i think that's a good idea to just keep it consistent because it helps me to see it on my calendar

And then as we get closer, if there's people that can't, maybe we can adjust the date, right? To make sure that we have a quorum and as many as possible. Okay. And as far as the number, I mean, I think we just need to have the first meeting, the next meeting and see how much we need to talk and how much more time we need to see if we need more than one a month. But I think one a month getting that on the calendar is a good idea.

Okay. do you all have a particular date in mind so that maybe we can set those dates already? And maybe, I don't know if we can check availability in the meantime, so that way we already know for sure.

Do you want to keep it in the same location?

For the first two, I would suggest here at City Hall. And then the last two at the Convention Center, Okay, we would need to check with the Convention Center availability, but I think at least for now, we can just go ahead and set them at the Convention Center. If for some reason they're not available on those dates, we can adjust it and fix it at our next meetings before then, or have it somewhere else for that matter. That's okay, because the resolution does require us to have the meetings at at least two separate locations. So at the very least, we can have the next two here at City Hall. And then we can have the next two either at the Convention Center. And we can plan it already. But if for some reason it doesn't work out, we can amend that at the meetings before then, if that makes sense. So I don't know if you guys want to kind of take a peek. I don't know if you are able to take a peek at your schedules right now maybe so we can get some dates going?

Chambers is available May 4th. May 4th, okay. Yes. Yes, May 4th, May 8th. There's another meeting at the same time. It's available in May 11th.

And then also, did you all want to keep it at this time at 12 noon?

Okay, either way.

So what about May 11th at 5? That works? We can, I mean, totally up to you all.

It's available at Chambers. The Chambers is available May 11th at 5. Yes.

You can do May 11th at 5. And then for the June, I guess we should then keep them all at 5 o'clock.

What day is May 11th? Is that like the second Monday?

It's the second Monday.

Okay. Can we keep it consistent and do June and July, maybe the same date?

June 8th. It's available, too, here in the chambers.

What day was that?

I'm sorry? June 8th at 5, and it's going to be like the second Monday. it's gonna be the second Monday of yes the second Monday of the month and it's available fine that's okay we've got June 8th and then for July the second Monday will be 13 July 13th

It's just away from the 4th of July. Perfect.

And then for August, it would need to be... The 10th. We wouldn't be able to go to the 10th. Those would be at the... Oh, that's right. That's right. thing is, well, we could and we could do that.

The other option is just to keep it consistent. You know what I mean? So that it's the same across the board. Second Monday of the month at five o'clock. But if you all want to change that, that's fine, too. I mean, the only thing is for the August date, it would have to be before the city commission meeting on August 4.

So it will be the first Monday. What date is that? It's going to be too close. It's going to be the 3rd.

The 3rd? Would you all want to do that the day before the meeting? That's the day before the City Commission meeting.

Be honest, and I haven't anything planned, but it'll probably be difficult for me to attend June 8th. Okay. So, that's...

Okay.

Um...

don't we move it up to the first week for june and july and august so may may the 11th to accommodate you right but then move it up to the first week okay does that work we would only need to check the may date or sorry the june date because the others would be in a different location right so we have available chambers on the first monday of june it's going to be here in chambers So June 1st?

June 1st.

Does that work for everyone?

That works for me. Then July and August, I can check availability on the other location and then I can let you know.

Okay, we can do that.

Afternoon, right?

Yes, and it's going to be here.

And so we won't set dates for July and August until we have a venue.

We can wait. That's fine.

Okay, great.

Thank you. However you all prefer, we can do that.

Just let us know as soon as you have availability and we can do a tentative date. Uh-huh. Does that work? So we can look at our schedules?

So then I guess if you all want to take a vote, make a motion and a vote on approving those dates for the next two meetings.

Okay, I'll entertain a motion then to have our May meeting on May 11th. at 5 p.m. here at City Hall Chambers and then on June 1st, also at 5 p.m. here at the City Hall Chambers.

So moved.

I've got a first from Ms. Elizondo and a second from Mr. Cárdenas. All those in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed? Motion carries.

And that brings us to the next item on the agenda.

Item number two, consideration and action of preliminary rules and procedures governing charter review committee meetings.

So just some recommendations as far as that goes. We recommend you all following Robert's rules of order. That's generally what all the committees and the commission follows, which of particular importance states the majority of those present and voting would approve CRC action, which is you all charter review committee. That's what I mean when I put CRC. So following that, Robert's Rules of Order, as well as agenda preparation, that being that agenda items can be placed on the agenda by the city attorney, the city manager, or two members of the committee for consideration to be put on the agenda. Another thing that we recommend is that matters that have been voted by the committee and that have failed shall not be placed on the agenda for reconsideration unless a member of the committee from the prevailing side makes a written request to the city attorney. Matters that end in a tie vote will be placed on the next committee meeting agenda. And public comment would be the same as what's already in city ordinance section 2 dash 26, which is what the city commission follows, which is regarding and this is what it states. I just copied it. It's registration or selection of public comment speakers. Any person who wants to address the committee has to register with the city secretary before the start of any meeting. The committee requests each speaker identify which items relating to committee business they intend to speak about. The city secretary would prepare a speaker list of individuals who have registered and wish to address any item relating to the committee's business for that particular agenda, which is not on the agenda. From this list, there shall be a maximum of five speakers per meeting who shall be permitted to speak. Speakers will be allowed three minutes each. The board, the committee, shall have the discretion to modify its regulations regarding time limits on public comment if necessary. For example, the time limit may be shortened to accommodate a lengthy agenda item, or it could be lengthened to allow additional time for discussion on a complicated matter, or if there's a need for an interpreter. No speaker may yield his or her time. The entire session of public comment shall not exceed 15 minutes for each meeting unless such period for that meeting is extended by a majority vote of the board. Once acknowledged by the chair, the person shall come to the designated microphone, state his name and address, and engage in public comment. The chair or the board may allow the speaker to exceed the three-minute time limit if the information presented is of value to the discussion. and does not unduly prolong the meeting. As deemed necessary, a majority of the CRC board may allow a speaker to continue after the chair has announced the end of the speaker's time. If a speaker's comments will be longer than three minutes, the speaker may submit written remarks by providing them to each member of the committee through the city secretary with one copy made available to the city secretary for the official record. Additionally, the chair has a responsibility and duty to rule a speaker out of order. If the comments violate the following guidelines for public comment, these rules shall be enforced fairly and without regard to the speaker's viewpoints. So no speaker may use public comment to address issues which are unrelated to CRC business or jurisdiction. Speakers must stay within their allotted time. A speaker may not conduct a filibuster which would impair the rights of other would-be public comment participants. Speakers cannot be disruptive, abusive, profane, or act in any disorderly manner. Speakers may not engage in personal attacks, which include the conduct of the person being attacked that is totally unrelated to the manner in which he or she performs their official duties. If the chair and or the city secretary does not act promptly, any member of the CRC may require the chair to immediately rule the speaker out of order. If after being recognized and making a motion that is seconded, a majority of the CRC board present votes affirmatively to find the offending speaker to be out of order. So, like I said, those are recommendations that we have for you all. That's what generally the other boards do, but it's up to you all how you'd like to proceed. This is for the next agenda item. So I guess for that one, if you all have action, this would be the time to go ahead and make a motion and vote.

Approving any preliminary rules and procedures governing your all's meetings. I make a motion to accept the ones recommended by the city attorney's office.

I've got a motion by Ms. Elizondo.

I second.

And a second for Mr. Cárdenas to approve the suggestions made by the city attorney's office. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries.

Okay. Item number three, recommendation for future agenda items.

So for future agenda items, as I kind of mentioned earlier, we would recommend tackling one section per meeting At least to start with, just to kind of see how things end up going and how things progress. But being that these are the four sections that you all were tasked with making proposals on, we could have Section 13 compensation for the May meeting. We could have Section 28 for the June meeting, campaign finance for the July meeting. And then we may be able to even move them up. We can kind of see how the second meeting, I mean, I'm sorry, the first meeting goes regarding compensation. At this time, there are no technical or cleanup provisions submitted. But if there are any, that would be something that we could do last. Those are pretty easy. They would just be like, technical things, sometimes like typos or things like that, that we just kind of need a fix. So I don't foresee those, if any, taking up a significant amount of time. But that's just kind of, you know, an initial recommendation of however you all would like. I mean, it doesn't have to stay that way. Again, it's just to kind of, at least for the next meeting, at this point, we can just kind of have an idea, okay, for sure you all want just compensation on there, or do you want compensation and audit and oversight committee? And if we don't finish within the one and a half, two hours, then we can put it to the next meeting. So, just kind of depends how you guys want to do it.

Okay, so one of the things I think we need to consider is I know that we're not going to choose when we're going to present the proposed amendments to the City Commission and to put it on the ballot. But one thing we probably should keep in the back of our minds is if we go for the November date for the November ballot, we will have a greater turnout of Brownsville voters than if we wait for next year in the municipal elections. So that's something I think we should consider, especially if it's something important like compensation or I see PUB here that for them, the control of sovereignty at PUB is very important. So as we're going through this process, I would like to keep that in mind and maybe decide soon, what do we want to go for? So that then it kind of, we have a goal in mind. We need to get it done by August or we have more time and then we can wait until, was it November of next year? November. Yes. May of next year. Sorry, may of next year, which gives us a lot more latitude. But, well, you're just cognizant that the people who will vote on it are probably, well, it's fewer people. You're consistent voters. The other thing is also what the ballot will look like in November because you have the national and county elections and all that. It'll be a lot busier, the ballot. But these are things, do we want to get a good sample of Brownsville voters deciding these things or not. So that's just something. And there's no right or wrong answer. It just, I think, will inform how fast we want to go or want to do this. That's all I have. And I have, well, here's another thing. I've only been on the Charter Review Committee once, but I feel that if you offer too many amendments, it's overwhelming. So if we want to like hone in on maybe even five is too much, I think. But something to consider. So once we pick our top issues or top priorities, then that should also be something to consider. Anyone else?

I would like like at the next meeting to have at least like a timed so we don't get overboard. But I would like an overview of the four items. So we can kind of prioritize because if we spend, if we don't know how to manage our time, we're going to be cutting it really close to the November deadline or the August deadline. So I would like an overview. Like I would propose that the next meeting have an overview from the city attorney's office where we can review one, two, three, and four short, like, you know, five minutes each and then go into the first one. And then from there we can decide what, you know, what's going to take longer. Right. Cause we don't want to spend too much time on something that shouldn't have taken so long. and then be cramming it all in. That's what I would suggest.

And surely there are other issues that I guess the city departments or city commission or even PUB or other like city affiliated but independent organizations would like to have considered.

Right. Um, these are just the ones that the, um, city commission included in their city chart and their, uh, resolution. But most definitely, um, as a matter of fact, I know there's a group of citizens that we're doing a petition for a charter amendment, um, agenda item. Um, I don't know how that's going, but they could come before you on request. That be added on for the charter doesn't have to come through the commission. Well, yes, they, they, Let's assume whether right now filling out the petition, let's assume that they would correctly, and they have enough signatures, then it would go to the city commission. We wouldn't come before you all and it would be ordered. If it meets all their criteria, but let's say that there don't do the petition correctly and or they, maybe they don't have all the signatures. It could come before you want to say, hey, please consider this. You know, we have this number of signatures, send it to the voters. Um, same thing with could come in with some, uh, requested amendments as well. Um, or, you know, other citizens, that's what the public hearings are for to hear what the public has interest in changing. Right. And so those are most definitely could be considered as well.

Yes, the public hearing would be at the beginning.

Right.

Okay. So we have a lot of work to do potentially.

Sorry, the public hearings are the ones that are going to be in the event center, because then if we're going to do public hearings in the summer, that's also a hard time to get public input.

Right. I mean, we could have the next one coming up in May could be one of your public hearings. That way, you know, there's still time. People are not on vacation.

Can you explain that then? So the public hearings and the meetings are separate?

No, they will be at the same time.

So like by setting the next one, the first public hearing would be the comment period at the beginning.

Right. Kind of like your public comments. We had public comment section, but we had no public comments. We would have a section where people would be able to come before you all and that'll be their opportunity to say what they want.

Does today count as one?

No, there wasn't any public hearings on the agenda for today.

So do we, and we need four public hearings or two? Four. So the resolution requires at least four public hearings. Okay. That's what I'm saying.

May, June, we'll have one June, July, and then August. And that's assuming you're shooting for November.

Well, I mean, if, if we're expecting a lot of other people to come forward and that the commission asks us to look at other items, I mean, I think it would just make sense to put all the items, at least all these four on the next agenda. And, uh, if we table some, we table them, but. let's not limit ourselves.

Right. We were having just a side conversation here about compensation would probably be the one that might take the most time. The last Charter Review Committee, they all agreed commissions should be compensated for what they do, right? It takes a lot of time. A lot of them have families, work. And another consideration was While a majority of those that are currently serving can probably serve, because they have the means to do so, there might be someone who doesn't have the means to serve. And this would be their opportunity to be able to serve while at the same time they maintain their job. So that might take more discussion. The Audit and Oversight Committee has already proposed amendments. Um, so that would be basically just briefing you all on those and, um. I don't want to say rubber stamping, but essentially, um. I guess agreeing to have this on the charter, uh, agenda, um, the campaign finance and the disciplinary provisions. I don't know necessarily that all the commission wants those. Um. But those are probably be quick discussions as well.

So we could have a quick run through at the next May 11th.

Like a quick overview of all four to give you all an idea of what it actually looks like in the city charter. You know, maybe a little bit of background on it, just so you can kind of get an idea of what it is, where it could go. And then we could have section 13 compensation also on the agenda and have the public hearing for that as well. And that way you all can, start discussing that one. If we don't finish and if y'all don't take a vote on it, that's fine. We could always move it to the next meeting also. So we could do that, an overview plus compensation for the next meeting.

That's a good idea.

Why don't we keep our public comments separate for the next one we don't have all four.

Right. I think it looks more daunting, but I think they're really easy subjects and we'll break it down to basically on benchmarks on what other cities have currently. So I will say that the last city charter committee had a hard time coming up with a number, right? They all felt they should be compensated, but they had that difficulty in determining, you know, looking at what other cities pay. They deferred to city commission, right? And that's where we came up with the last last charter amendment. Mayor got 40,000 annually salary and I believe city commissioners get 25,000. My recommendation would be that you're at large, which we'll, we'll cover that in depth. But my recommendation, just so, you know, would be that at large. I don't know how commissioner feels, but at large would get a similar salary to the mayor. Maybe just a little less and, you know, whatever you all decide or recommend for the district commissioners.

Don't want to get into discussion now.

We can save it for next week. Right. But I guess right now, if you all want to make a motion and vote on just what would be for the next meeting, which I know which was discussed a little bit of just having it be an overview of these four provisions, as well as having compensation on there, for sure.

And as you all think about the motion, we can send out the PowerPoint ahead of time so that you can review it. Um, we won't so that we're not lecturing. Right. But I think at the same time, we will kind of run through it a little bit just for the public's knowledge. Right. So we'll hit, like, the high points.

So, then at this point, though, you're saying maybe limit. The charter amendments to these 4 topics, right?

Well, this is what was charged in the resolution. So this is what the city commission specifically charged this committee with working on. So it's these four that are listed in there.

But we might get surprised with more work. Yeah, because I don't remember having this discussion. Sorry. I know that these are topics we've discussed. Well, the comp and finance, yes, and audit and oversight because I sit on that committee. compensation or the disciplinary provisions. But have we really pulled the City Commission to see if there's any changes needed?

We haven't pulled them. But individually, these are what a couple of commissioners here and there have added to the resolution when we were drafting it.

And then in the past I remember like the fire department and meeting some like so are there are they needing any changes fire department or maybe police.

Well we have reached out to departments letting them know both with the legislative legislative is starting to ramp up to we had the interim charges released recently. As well as letting them know the charter is about to be reviewed by the charter review committee to let us know what changes they might have, right? We haven't heard yet from departments, but we will kind of gently nudge them again.

I think you should let them know that if it doesn't get amended this time, then it won't be for two more years.

For two more years, correct. Yeah, we did the same exercise last time, and they didn't have any changes at the time. And I believe at the time that we had it, I don't believe we had an auditor I don't think Keyla had started with us yet. Now we have Arnold. It was Kayla. Yeah, Kayla. So we didn't anticipate needing any changes. But over the course, one of the changes that you'll see with the auto and oversight is they're currently five, and they just want to go to seven, right? And so very minor change. But you're right. There might be additional that come forward that we don't know about.

Can you show the slide that had the charge where you summarized it and then the other two things that was either technical cleanup, sometimes easier to visualize it?

Yeah.

Okay. Well, this is the actual resolution.

you want to see this or did you want your summary the summary yeah yeah this one this one okay so it's basically the four items the technical and other amendments and then provisions recommended by the city commission so we may get more we may not right that's correct to to to move this along what we can do is at the next meeting do a quick

deep dive into those four topics just so you know what you know what audit and oversight is really requesting what the campaign finance entails and compensation will show you a benchmark of what other cities have if that's y'all's direction we can have that prepared for may the may meeting from now until then if we have any other feelers from departments or from pub or any other agencies we can bring that forward at that same meeting too that sounds productive right because then do the deep dive of those four at the next meeting and then um opens it gives it up to more time to bring in other Um, areas to focus on if suggested, and we'll have the other 2 members and we'll bring them up to speed beforehand, but they'll be. You know, they're at that meeting for the full discussion.

Either discussion.

So, uh, this is number 3, right? Um. Do we have do we want it? No, I guess it's not really about. It was just a discussion.

Just discussion. We just direction. I believe we have it.

Oh, right.

But it could.

Yeah.

Oh.

Anyone else to items that you want to discuss with the next 1?

So because I have seen that group of residents or they're not, I don't even know if they're residents. I think they live in other parts, but they're collecting signatures to make a charter amendment, right?

That is correct.

What is the process for that? Is it the city facilitates that because of the charter review or do they try to do it on their own through the elections department?

Right. So they do it on their own. This particular group, I believe they're called, Game Change, Texas. And so they've done propositions in various cities. I don't know that they're necessarily responsible for the one that occurred in McAllen. McAllen recently had a charter amendment that was through voters, a petition approved by voters, and that was for campaign finance limits. It didn't survive strict scrutiny, And that was because they were like, the limitations were very, very strict, uh, 500 dollars per person. You know, for a campaign, um, courts struck it down, but this particular group, they. There's a formal process they have to follow since they've done it in other cities. I believe they probably know that process. I just don't know that they have all the signatures. We haven't received the petition yet, but once we received the petition. Um, it kicks off a time frame where we have to review it. See if it meets state law, and if it does, then we'll bring it to city commission and let city commission know, you know, you have a valid petition here. It meets all the requirements. We're going to have to include this in our charter election.

To vote on it. It just, it's like supersedes the commission voting.

Pretty much.

So we wouldn't have to discuss that.

I have to discuss that if they go through that process. But assuming, I mean, if, if I was them, not that I'm. I want to give them ideas, but if I was them, and I didn't get on my signatures, I could easily come before you all say, hey, please consider this. And I think they're, I haven't read the whole provision, but I think it's dealing with hiring in Brownsville and ensuring that certain contracts, like local preference, essentially.

That's what they tried to get me to sign the petition. Yeah, to give local preference.

We have policy already on that, but they want to codify it.

and the charter. So.

If there's anything else, other discussion or any other business, I'll entertain a motion to adjourn.

So I've got a first from Mr. Cavanaugh.

Second. Second from Ms. Elizondo. All those in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries and the meeting is adjourned.

The meeting is adjourned at 1 p.m.

Thank you.

Thank you all.

Thank you all. Nice to meet you all.