Beaumont City Hall
Kaitlin Bain/The Enterprise
Beaumont Enterprise
Courtney Pedersen, Staff writer
Starting Monday, Beaumont residents have the opportunity to vote on term limits for the first time in at least 103 years.
Term lengths and limits are just one of the five proposed Beaumont city charter changes that will be on the ballot during the November election.
The proposed changes were presented to council on Aug. 1 by Denton Navarro Rocha Bernal and Zech, P.C. Shareholder and Partner Charles Zech.
However, the changes were put forth by the 11-member, council-appointed Charter Review Committee. Committee members were: Frances Sam, Lashon Proctor, Robin Troy, Cory Crenshaw, Roy Steinhagen, Melanie Samuel, Jesus Abrego, Shirlene Cook, Robert Calvert, Daylyn Turner and Brian McDougal. The committee also had a youth representative, Sam Marchand.
The Beaumont City Council voted on Aug. 15 to bring the proposed changes to community members. But the council members made further changes to the propositions during its Aug. 29 meeting.
Proposition A -- "Shall the City Charter of the City of Beaumont be amended to increase City Council terms from two years to four year staggered terms with a three-term limit totaling 12 years per office?"
The proposition would allow council members to serve three terms, for a total of 12 years. Council members still would be able to run for other seats immediately once their term in another seat is finished.
"You can term out per office after 12 years, thus vacating that chair and making an opportunity for someone new that may never get in otherwise, but yet you could move to another office," At-Large Council member Randy Feldschau said during the Aug. 29 council meeting. "By doing that and running for that position, we can maintain that experience and that institutional knowledge on the council."
The proposition also would change the terms from two to four years and make them staggered.
During a previous council meeting, City Attorney Sharae Reed said the charter committee thought longer terms would allow the council to get more done.
"One of the members who served was actually a former city manager (in Port Arthur), Mr. McDougal, and he just said there was an interruption in council if you had to run every two years, because one year you are becoming acclimated if you were a new person. Then the second year you are already back to running," Reed said. "(The committee) felt like having four years would allow for council to become acclimated to assess those priorities but also to get something done in those later years."
Port Arthur's council members currently serve three-year terms.
The proposition would not only increase members' term length, but would also stagger the elections and require that the council's at-large positions be voted on seperately, as opposed to the current system that awards the seats to the top two vote-getters, according to Zech's presentation.
"It would stagger those terms so half of the council is elected every two years," Zech said. "As a result of that because of the change, it would require that the council members at large be elected by place as opposed to how it is currently done, which is not by place, but by plurality essentially."
Those who run for an at large seat would have to decide which of the two seats they want to run for.
Currently, the City Council has two-year, unstaggered terms with no term limits.
Proposition B -- "Shall the City Charter of the City of Beaumont be amended to require the City Council to hold such regular meetings as necessary to efficiently conduct the affairs of the City?"
The current city charter states that the city council should meet weekly unless postponed for a valid reason. However, this proposition states that the council hold "monthly meetings as necessary to efficiently conduct the affairs of the city."
"This language (in the proposition) essentially gives flexibility to be able to hold such number of meetings as necessary," Zech said. "If it's not necessary to hold a meeting every week, you can take a week off."
Reed said the proposition was discussed by the committee so council could establish a meeting calendar for continuity and to give community members notice.
Proposition C -- "Shall the City Charter of the City of Beaumont be amended to clarify the authority of the City Manager and City Council’s roles?"
The proposition makes the roles of the positions of the city manager and city council more clear, Zech said.
"(The proposition) adds sections clarifying the city managers role in the council/manager form of government," the presentation states. "(It) adds a section making clear that members of city council may not direct staff subject to the supervision of the city manager."
Zech said the committee requested the language be included to make clear what is already the law.
Proposition D -- "Shall the City Charter of the City of Beaumont be amended for consistency and compliance with State law?"
The proposition ensures the charter is in alignment with state law.
Zech said Proposition F and G are recommendations from his own review of the charter to determine if it is in compliance with state law and what can be eliminated that is "not substantive in nature."
According to Reed, a lot of Zech's changes were brought up during the previous charter change.
"In talking with Tina and just going through how individuals voted, it just seems that they just became overwhelmed with the amount of things that we were asking them to vote on," Reed said. "Lumping them together just to say 'Hey, do you want your charter to be in compliance with state law?' was a suggestion that was made just so people understand clearly what they're voting on."
If voters decide against these measures, they will stay in the charter but not be enforceable by the city.
Proposition G -- "Shall the City Charter of the City of Beaumont be amended to delete repetitive and unnecessary provisions?"
Within the proposition, sections of the charter that do not need to be included would be removed.
"On a basic level, I'm not a fan of repeating state law in charters, because if state law changes, all it does is create confusion with your citizens either because you're doing something that's they think is in violation of your charter, but it's actually in compliance with state law," Zech said.