TROUTDALE CHARTER AMENDMENTS TO DEFINE MAYOR'S FUNCTIONS AND MANAGER'S DUTIES
QUESTION: Shall Troutdale amend Home Rule Charter to define Mayor's functions and Manager's duties?
SUMMARY: This measure would amend three sections and delete one section of the current City Charter. The City Council approved this measure for submission to City voters.
The Oregon Constitution gives City voters the right to adopt and amend charters. Charters grant legal authority to cities and assign duties to city officials. Troutdale voters adopted the current charter in 1994.
The Charter amendments are based on the 2004 League of Oregon Cities Model Charter. Amended section 18 defines the role and functions of the Mayor. Amended section 21 defines the office of City Manager and lists its duties. Section 20 of the current Charter relating to Mayor executive authority is deleted.
If approved by the voters, these Charter amendments take effect January 1, 2011.
EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Measure 26-115 would streamline and modernize the Troutdale City Charter by eliminating what the city's Organization Improvement Study Group Subcommittee found to be obsolete and conflicting language.
Background
The Troutdale City Charter is the governing document for the City of Troutdale. A Charter grants legal authority to a city, and, among other things, it establishes the roles and duties of city officers. The Oregon Constitution gives city voters the right to adopt and amend home rule charters. Troutdale voters adopted the current City Charter in 1994.
In March, the City Council appointed an Organization Improvement Study Group Subcommittee to review city structure. The Subcommittee met on June 8 and June 15, 2010 to hear and consider possible amendments to the 1994 City of Troutdale Home Rule Charter.
What would the measure do?
The Subcommittee found several sections of the Charter, which has not been reviewed in sixteen years, to be confusing, conflicting, and outdated. It recommended that one section of the Charter be deleted and that three sections be replaced with provisions from the 2004 League of Oregon Cities Model Charter.
The measure would:
- Clarify and define the role and functions of the mayor;
- Explain that the mayor is the political head of the city government;
- Change the name of the office of city administrator to that of city manager , in keeping with the majority of Oregon cities of comparable size and the position's current duties;
- List the duties of the city manager, which are currently described in a city Ordinance rather than being assigned in the Charter, where they more appropriately belong;
- Explain that the city manager is the administrative head of the city government; and
- Delete Section 20 of the current Charter relating to the mayor's executive authority.
The proposed amendments would not change city operating procedure, but would modernize the Charter by eliminating obsolete and conflicting language.
If approved by the voters, these Charter amendments would take effect January 1, 2011.
The complete text of the Charter amendments is available online at www.troutdale.info.
Submitted by:
David Ross,
City Attorney
City of Troutdale
No arguments FOR or AGAINST this measure were filed.