The May 4th, 2024 election will include decisions on the City Charter. I’ve listed the propositions below, along with some comments on what they mean and why they are being proposed.
You can download a personalized sample ballot from the: Dallas County Votes Website
For additional information, please reach out to your council member.
City of Garland Proposition A
Shall Article III, Section 1(D) of the Home Rule Charter be amended to redefine “term” to mean in excess of annual consecutive statutory elections dates?
There are places in the city charter where we define terms as being ‘1 year’, but election days are sometimes a few days off. For example, last year the election was on May 6th and this year it is on May 4th. This cleans up the charter language to define the term as the length of time between the May election dates so that there’s no confusion. This is similar to Proposition Q, but this change is in a different place in the charter.
City of Garland Proposition B
Shall Article III, Section 1(F) of the Home Rule Charter be amended to mirror state redistricting law of ten (10) year intervals?
During its growth, Garland re-evaluated our district lines every 5 years for the purposes of redistricting. Now that Garland is built-out and the population is generally stable, it makes sense to move to a 10-year cycle that matches the US census.
Additionally, there is a new state law that requires every member of an elected body to stand for re-election after redistricting. This will require Garland to elect all council members in the same year starting in either 2031 or 2032 (depending on when the US census results are published). If we stay with a 5-year redistricting cycle, it’ll switch our council terms to 2-2-1 years instead of 2-2-2. Aligning redistricting with the census sets us up to work well with state law.
City of Garland Proposition C
Shall Article III, 1(F) of the Home Rule Charter be amended to add protections against gerrymandering?
This adds language to the Charter to protect citizens from ending up with Gerrymandered council districts.
City of Garland Proposition D
Shall Article III, Section 2 of the Home Rule Charter be to revise the qualifications of council members?
This closes a loophole that would allow council members to serve while being convicted felons.
City of Garland Proposition E
Shall Article III, Section 3 of the Home Rule Charter be amended to increase the compensation for Mayor and Council members?
This adjusts reimbursements to match inflation and adds 4 paid meetings per year.
Reimbursement is generally intended to offset incurred costs by members, including fuel, dry cleaning, food, childcare, and other expenses. The CPI has increased ~ 16% since the last charter review in 2018. A ~16% increase is being proposed.
Additionally, the council traditionally has 4 planned special work sessions each year:
1) CIP Budget Workshop
2) Summer Strategic Goals
3) Operating Budget Workshop
4) Winter Review
This would allow payment for the additional 4 all-day meetings to primarily help cover childcare expenses. The committee specifically limited the number of paid meetings to 52 per year. 48 meetings include 2 work sessions and 2 formal sessions each month, plus the 4 special meetings. This prevents the council from calling, and being compensated for, additional meetings above and beyond the 52.
Council compensation before and after this change is well within the pay range of other cities of comparable size.
City of Garland Proposition F
Shall Article III, Section 4 of the Home Rule Charter be amended to add gender neutral language consistent with the rest of the charter?
This cleans up a few areas that were missed in the 2018 review that replace ‘he’ with ‘he or she’, or ‘they’ when considering multiple people.
City of Garland Proposition G
Shall Article III, Section 4 of the Home Rule Charter be amended to add a reference to the Deputy Mayor Pro Tempore position on council?
Since 2015, the city has had several natural and manmade disasters. The 2020 pandemic also stressed the importance of continuity of government. It would make sense for council leadership to be three members deep. The emergency management plan establishes a deeper chain of leadership for disaster scenarios and does not need to be included in the charter.
City of Garland Proposition H
Shall Article III, Section 5(A) of the Home Rule Charter be amended to add a thirty (30) day deadline for the Governor to respond to an election petition from the City before the City Council can fulfill the vacancy by appointment?
In 2020, we petitioned the governor to allow us to have a special election to fill a vacancy. It took him more than 90 days to respond. Our charter didn’t anticipate an instance where the governor did not respond in a timely manner. This adds a 30 day clock so we can move on if we do not receive a response.
City of Garland Proposition I
Shall Article IV, Section 2 of the Home Rule Charter be amended to clarify the council appointed positions to which the removal procedure applies?
Five members must approve a council appointment. This allows for judicial independence for an appointee for quasi-judicial actions on the relevant boards. Additional language gives members a form of due process and a right to hear open discussion by the council prior to their removal.
City of Garland Proposition J
Shall Article IV, Section 3 of the Home Rule Charter be amended to change the enforcement procedure of improper communication with appointments to be pursuant to the City’s Code of Ethics?
State law has evolved a number of times in recent years regarding penalties for elected officials. The council recently passed an ethics ordinance that addresses those changes. This will modify the charter to follow the ethics ordinance so that the document may be changed as state law continues to evolve.
Propositions K, L, and M would allow for non-judicial council appointees to have contracts that extend to 5 years. The current contract limit is 3 years.
City of Garland Proposition K
Shall Aritcle IV, Section 8(A) of the Home Rule Charter be amended to change the allowed contract of the City Auditor to not exceed five (5) years?
City of Garland Proposition L
Shall Article V, Section 2 of the Home Rule Charter be amended to change the allowed contract of the City Manager to not exceed five (5) years?
City of Garland Proposition M
Shall Article VI, Section 1 of the Home Rule Charter be amended to change the allowed contract of the City Attorney to not exceed five (5) years?
I have not heard of a compelling reason to make these changes.
City of Garland Proposition N
Shall Article XI, Section 1(E) of the Home Rule Charter be amended to clarify the circumstances of the Mayor’s appointment to a vacancy on the Plan Commission?
This fixes language ambiguity in the charter. As written, it could be interpreted that the Mayor has the power to appoint a replacement for a vacancy on the plan commission for any district. This rewords the language in that section of the Charter for greater clarity.
City of Garland Proposition O
Shall Article XI, Section 4 of the Home Rule Charter be amended to simplify and clarify the Zoning powers of the City to be consistent with City Ordinances and state law?
State law and changes in common language have made most of the language in our charter in regards to planning and zoning obsolete. This change would greatly simplify the language, but should not change the meaning, power, or limitations that the charter imposes for planning or zoning.
City of Garland Proposition P
Shall Article XI, Section 7 of the Home Rule Charter be amended to add the allowance of delegation of certain plat approval pursuant to recent changes in state law?
This makes the language in the charter align with state law, allowing administrative approval of ‘some’ plats, and providing due process for an applicant to go through the plan commission in case of a denial. This should allow for expedited approval of plats without putting applicants at any disadvantage.
City of Garland Proposition Q
Shall Article XII, Section 1 of the Home Rule Charter be amended to remove the specific reference to May and be consistent with any statutorily designated uniform election date?
There are places in the city charter where we define terms as being ‘1 year’, but election days are sometimes a few days off. For example, last year the election was on May 6th and this year it is on May 4th. This cleans up the charter language to define the term as the length of time between the May election dates so that there’s no confusion. This is a change in a different place in the charter, but accomplishes the same as Proposition A