Home rule charter commission holds first meeting

Killeen Daily Herald
Rachel Madison Owner/Publisher
July 10, 2023

The group of Liberty Hill residents who have volunteered and been tasked with creating a home rule charter for the rest of the City’s residents to vote on in May 2024 met for the first time Monday evening.

The commission currently consists of Luke Jernejcic, Keeling Neves, Wade Ashley, Kay Keller, Cathy Enderle, Jacquetta Thayer, Jessica Solis, Bill Brannan, Sandra Slade, Chuck Walker, Danny Barringer, Daniel Duckworth, Bryan Rivera and Matt Pappas. Slade was appointed as chair and Rivera was appointed as vice chair of the commission. A 15^th member will be added to the commission at the next City Council meeting on July 12.

When a city reaches a population of at least 5,000, it can be ruled by its own charter, which is essentially like having its own constitution. According to the results of the 2020 U.S. Census, Liberty Hill’s population is 6,801. Currently, the city is under general rule status.

At the meeting, the commission members each took their oath of office and were sworn in. They also received a training on the City of Liberty Hill’s policies and procedures, organizational structure, Open Records Act, Open Meetings Act, and parliamentary procedure.

City Attorney Marianella Joseph also spoke to the commission about the next steps now that the commission has officially been established.

“The purpose of you all being here is you are going to draft the charter,” she said. “We have a charter commission to have a legitimate process with an input on what citizens want. We can do workshops to educate citizens and all sorts of things so that when you submit the charter for voting, voters are actually excited about coming to the polls and voting for the charter. You are vessels of communication to the citizens.”

Joseph added that the charter will tackle topics like the City’s form of government, type of City Council, what the mayor’s powers are, and more.

“In the process of drafting the charter, you get to decided what form of government you’re going to have,” she said. “How do you decide? You can look at the current form of government in Liberty Hill and in neighboring cities. You can also look at other charters that you can use as a model to follow.”

Joseph said as city attorney, it’s her role to guide the commission as they draft the charter. One speed bump the commission will face is a bill passed in this year’s Legislative session, House Bill 2127, or the Texas Regulatory Consistency Act, which goes into effect Sept. 1. It puts a lot of limits and regulations on what home rule status cities can do, Joseph added.

The Act preempts cities from declaring an ordinance, order or rule in a “field of regulation that is occupied by a provision of this code,” specifically identifying the agriculture, business and commerce, finance, insurance, labor, local government, natural resources, occupations and property codes.

“The state doesn’t want cities to have autonomy and regulate locally; the state wants to have power over the cities,” she said. “It’s not new—they have been fighting this for many years. This is one of the laws that has been the most intrusive.”

The commission is set to meet at least once a month between July and January to draft the charter. After the charter is drafted, the commission will submit it to the City Council for approval. Upon approval, an election will be ordered. Joseph added that all voting citizens of the City will receive a hard copy of charter about 30 days before the election.

“The charter is fundamental to a home rule city—it’s similar to a constitution,” Joseph said.

The next meeting of the commission will take place Aug. 14 at 6:30 p.m. at the Municipal Court building.