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Charter commission takes on gas drilling, term limits
By Chris Roark, croark@acnpapers.com
The Flower Mound Town Council will have a few decisions to make regarding the town charter.
And depending on what it decides, voters may have some decisions to make as well.
Thursday, the Charter Review Commission recommended 13 items for the council to consider as possible amendments to the town charter. The council could vote to put all, some or none of these items on the ballot for the May 12 election. It could also put some of these items on the ballot for a November special election.
While it was a productive night as far as the amount of items getting sent through, some residents said it’s actually too much, too soon.
David Johnson, one of a handful of residents in the audience, questioned why it took more than a year to adopt the new oil and gas ordinance and more than seven months to go through the last charter review process in 2007, yet this year’s charter review process is taking place in a short amount of time.
“They’re shoving it through,” Johnson said after the meeting. “Something as key to the town as the charter is being pushed through in less than 30 days? I think that’s a reflection of poor planning.”
When asked why this process is going faster than the previous charter review process, town spokesman Michael Ryan said, “The charter review process is being driven by state election law deadlines. We are confident the committee can thoroughly review the charter and make a solid, comprehensive recommendation within the scheduled timeframe. The town has undertaken and accomplished numerous large-scale projects during the past year. Discussions regarding the charter review have been on the radar for some time. The project is now one of our top priorities."
Gas drilling
Among the topics the council will consider as part of a charter amendment is natural gas drilling.
The commission voted 3-2 to recommend a charter amendment requiring that any change to the oil and gas ordinance must be considered at a public hearing and that it must take a supermajority vote to change it. Currently, it only takes a simple majority vote to change the ordinance.
Commissioner Laurie Long said it is important to require a supermajority vote because she said a master plan amendment requires the same thing and that the gas drilling ordinance has reached that level of importance.
“We’ve been dealing with gas drilling for 10 years, so it’s been around,” Long said. “We’re realizing how significant this is and how it impacts our master plan. So I think that warrants another council vote. Gas drilling impacts infrastructure, town revenue and a lot of other things.”
Commissioner Eric Jellison said that more people voted on the gas drilling issue than those who voted for making a charter amendment years ago that called for a supermajority vote for a master plan amendment.
Resident Mellany Lamb, also in the audience, agreed.
“If we have a simple majority, it could take all that laborious work [on the gas drilling ordinance] and overturn it just like that,” Lamb said.
Commissioner Richard Watts said he felt like a simple majority is good enough. Commissioner Keith Simonson said he wanted more information before recommending this.
Johnson opposed the supermajority idea. He pointed to Kroger’s request for a fueling station, which was denied by a supermajority vote, as an example of what he described as the process not representing the community’s desires. Two members of the council denied the request for a store renovation because the fueling station was attached to the request.
“Requiring a supermajority vote makes it slow for the town to adjust to the market changes,” Johnson said. “And it makes the process more easily manipulative.”
Another resident who lives on the west side of Flower Mound, agreed.
“It’s just going to rekindle problems that we’ve had over the last few years,” he said. “A supermajority vote causes more problems, not less problems. If it’s a safe and reasonable site, it’s a safe and reasonable site. This would just create more obstacles to access our minerals.”
The commission also recommended an ordinance calling for a public hearing for the conveyance or lease of all town minerals. But a supermajority will not be required.
Term limits
The commission recommended that neither the mayor nor any council member may be elected for more than three full consecutive two-year terms.
Commissioners said term limits are good because it provides fresh ideas.
“It keeps mayors and council members from getting too cozy on anything,” said chairman Rick Lust, who served as Flower Mound mayor from 1998-1990.
So far, no individual has served as Flower Mound mayor or council member for more than six years.
Commissioners also discussed the possibility of changing the term lengths but decided to stay with two-year terms.
The commission recommended the issue of mayor/council member stipends be placed on the ballot as well.
Currently, those officials get reimbursed for cell phone use, driving to events outside Flower Mound (50 cents per mile) and travel. The commission’s proposal was for the mayor to get $300 per month and council members to get $200 per month.
Lust said the mayor and council members used to get paid $100 a month during the 1970s, but the town eliminated that stipend as it was going through tough economic times.
Public/private partnerships
The commission also recommended a charter amendment that would require a town election for any proposal committing public money to or for any private enterprise, project or interest that enters into a lease in excess of one year.
“Anything that includes public money for private enterprise should go before the public because in general, it’s good policy,” Lust said.
Commissioners cautioned about such ventures, warning against political impact and the risk to taxpayers and the overall economy.
“When it fails, the private entity moves on, and the public ends up holding the bag,” Lust said, though he added that there are some instances when these can work. “It might be great for the town, and if it is, it should pass easily. But if it’s questionable, it opens things up for abuse.”
Others
And the commission recommended a charter amendment that would require voter registration numbers or date of birth to be included on petitions and that a resident must legibly print and sign their name if they want to be on the petition.
Commissioners said this would help in the validity of petitions so that names of unregistered voters won’t appear on them, which could unfairly help or hurt the cause.
The commission discussed the possibility of single-member districts, though it ultimately decided not to recommend it even go on the ballot. Town attorney Terry Welch said there were many far-reaching impacts of such a change, such as precinct line and voters rights considerations.
“I don’t hear an outcry saying we need districts,” Lust said. “If the town was going on the wrong path, I would be more for having a debate. But it creates a huge monster, and it gets complicated with state law.”
The commission also forwarded along recommendations on several language cleanup items on various ordinances.
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