Gunter passes Proposition A, abandons city manager form of government

KXII
By Garrett Stringfellow
Published: Nov. 8, 2023 at 9:35 PM GMT-7

GUNTER, Texas (KXII) - In Tuesday’s special election, Gunter residents voted to approve Proposition A, abandoning the city manager form of government.

“To hire a city manager, to hire a director of EDC, to hire all of these people, to do that form of government requires enough population to be able to support the funds,” local business owner and Gunter resident Alan Richins said. “Gunter was not there yet. We’re still not there yet.”

The change will abolish the city manager position, previously approved in 2017. A lot of that responsibility, including city budget management, will be returned back to the mayor.

Residents like Tim Lindstrom supported the city manager form of government, and didn’t see a reason to switch.

“We didn’t see that Gunter needed any type of change to its structure,” Lindstrom said. “We’re under 5000 residents and we have a council city manager form of government, which is the vast majority of Texas.”

Proponents like Richins say this power shift will create more accountability as far as city spending is concerned.

“We’re able to go directly to the mayor who is elected, not someone who is selected,” Richins said. “By going to them, we can actually hold the mayor accountable every four years or even have them removed if they’re not performing their job.”

Opponents like Lindstrom argue that the change shifts the balance of power too far into the mayor’s hands.

“The city manager was an employee at the leisure of the of the city government, and now that position will turn likely into a city administrator and have less say and less accountability in the city,” Lindstrom said.

Proponents say that having a mayor with more power only helps to maintain accountability, not only from the people, but from the council as well.

“It really moves everything over from a manager who only has to answer to a city council, to a mayor who has to answer to everyone in the city, including the city council, because they have to live here too,” Richins said.

A source close to the Gunter government says that the city council now has 60 days to remove the city manager, although it can be done sooner.