After discussion at several City Council meetings, a decision was reached to review Garland’s City Charter. The vote was 8-1 with Mayor Douglas Athas casting the vote against. Athas doesn’t believe that this is the proper time for a review.
“This is a card you only get to play every two years,” Athas said. “Once you play it, you don’t get to play it again for a while,” Athas said.
Council Member B.J. Williams said that he was concerned about a Facebook post on Athas’ page that questioned whether a review was needed and stated that a review could cause problems.
A portion of the post reads:
“Opening the Charter offers endless opportunities for mischief, such as changing or removing term limits, a ‘living wage’ for council members, slush funds for council members. No one has named a valid or pressing reason for a Charter review.”
In the post, Athas addressed a timing concern since the expectation is that changes would be presented to voters in May. A citywide election is not scheduled for May so taxpayers would incur significant costs. He added that turnout would be low. He suggested waiting until the next mayoral election.
Williams said that the decisions would be made by the voters and he trusts them.
“I have total confidence in the voters of the city of Garland that the proper decision would be made and I want to give them that opportunity,” Williams said.
He added that he didn’t believe that Garland voters would allow any misuse or abuse of city resources.
Council Members Rich Aubin and David Gibbons questioned why the discussion was being held because a decision to review the charter had been made in March.
Addressing the issue of spending money on an election, Aubin reminded council that money was spent for a past election to raise taxes for street improvements and the election results were ignored.
Gibbons expressed concern about what he perceives as the mayor’s FB post “bordering on fear mongering.”
He also said that the 24 citizens that have offered to serve on the committee have lived in Garland for an average of 29 years each. They are educated and some have served the city in the past.
Athas told council that a vote was necessary because some of the current council members had not yet been elected in March and that past councils cannot bind the current council.
The mayor and council members announced their choices for the committee. Each was approved by vote.
Council Member Gibbons – Scott Roberts
Council Member Goebel – Elva Gutierrez
Council Member Nickerson – Patricia Anthony
Council Member Williams – Dale Long
Council Member Aubin – Laura Perkins-Cox
Council Member Vera – Doug Williams
Council Member LeMay – Joe Thomas
Council Member Smith – John McDonald
Mayor Athas – Mike Rose