Crockett Council Advances Charter Updates On Mayor’s Tie-Breaking Vote

By Greg Ritchie

Messenger Reporter

CROCKETT — A divided Crockett City Council moved 22 proposed charter amendments another step toward voters Monday, Oct. 5, with Mayor Ianthia Fisher casting the deciding vote after council members split evenly over moving forward.

Council members Dennis Ivey and Hudson Duren voted in favor, while NaTrenia Hicks and Roy Simon voted against. Christopher Price was absent. Fisher broke the tie in favor of proceeding, making the final vote 3-2.

The action approved the proposed amendments for inclusion in an ordinance ordering a charter amendment election, which will return to council at a later meeting. It allows the city’s attorneys to finish preparing proposed ballot language; the amendments themselves would require voter approval.

Crockett’s home rule charter dates to 1964. The proposed updates cover everything from hiring city employees and selecting the mayor pro tem to purchasing procedures, elections and city property. Many of the propositions expressly call for bringing charter provisions into line with state law, while others would change how the city conducts its business.

City Administrator John Angerstein said the proposals followed charter committee meetings and council workshops, during which council members reviewed the recommendations with the city’s attorneys.

“All the official actions will be taking place after the first of the year when the actual order of election is going to be submitted and voted on,” Angerstein said.

Hicks said she could not support the amendments without the supporting records she had requested, including the original charter and documentation concerning previous amendment elections.

“None of the information that I’ve asked for has been provided to me,” Hicks said.

She also referred to her earlier service on the charter commission, saying its members had agreed to forward only proposals that received unanimous approval.

“We voted that we would bring no amendment or no proposed amendments back to the council unless they were unanimously voted upon by all members,” Hicks said.

Hicks said several commission members had told her some of the proposed amendments had not received unanimous approval.

Angerstein directly rejected her claim about the commission votes.

“Thank you for your comment, Mrs. Hicks. However, it is completely false,” Angerstein said. “All the propositions that were brought to council were voted on unanimously. The only one that was not voted on unanimously was not included in our discussions and workshop.”

Duren urged the council to give voters an opportunity to decide whether the charter should be amended.

“All we’re doing as city council members is allowing this to go on the ballot and let the voters vote on it,” Duren said.

“It needs to be in the voters’ hands. But they won’t even get an opportunity to put it in their hands if we don’t push it through.”

Hicks maintained that the city needed to follow the process agreed upon by the commission.

“First of all, we need to just stop pushing it through and follow protocol,” Hicks said.

Proposition I would give the council explicit investigative powers, including authority to subpoena witnesses and require evidence. It would also allow the council to adopt an ordinance making failure to obey a lawful order issued in such an investigation a misdemeanor.

That same proposition addresses the relationship between council members and employees supervised by the manager. Except for the specified inquiries and investigations, council members would deal with those employees through the manager and could not give them orders or reprimand them publicly or privately.

Proposition F would revise council qualifications and grounds for forfeiting office. It would remove the charter’s real-estate ownership requirement and replace its three-year city residency requirement with at least 12 months of residence in the city and the district a candidate seeks to represent.

The proposed forfeiture provisions include felony convictions, misdemeanor convictions involving moral turpitude, convictions for violations of state conflict-of-interest laws and loss of required qualifications or residency. They also address absence from 50% of the preceding six regularly scheduled council meetings without a valid excuse.

The firearms proposal, Proposition E, would delete Section 3.13, which prohibits the council from regulating firearm possession, sale, registration, distribution, manufacture or ownership, directly or indirectly. The proposal describes its purpose as removing that charter restriction while retaining powers authorized by state law.

Proposition J would change how the mayor pro tem is selected. The position currently goes to the council member with the longest continuous service, with a council vote resolving a tie in seniority. Under the proposal, council members would elect a mayor pro tem annually after regular election results are canvassed, and the mayor would have a vote in that selection.

Several other propositions concern conflicts of interest, prohibited gifts and nepotism. Others would update annexation, election procedures, tax assessment, utility and franchise provisions, and the sale or lease of city property.

The purchasing proposal would replace the charter’s fixed competitive-bidding requirement for expenditures exceeding $1,000 with purchasing rules consistent with state procurement law. A budget proposal would remove the provision automatically adopting the administrator’s proposed budget when council takes no final action by the charter’s deadline.

The package also includes changes to terminology and removal of provisions described as repetitive or unnecessary. Along with changing city administrator to city manager, it would replace city treasurer with finance director and commission members with council members.

The next step will be preparation of the ballot language and election ordinance for council’s later consideration. Angerstein said the formal election-order action would come after the beginning of 2027.

Greg Ritchie can be reached at [email protected]