Iola City Council members will look more closely at which charter ordinances will need to change now that a council, and not city commission, is in place. They met in an adjourned session Thursday.
Council members will have several things to consider, including whether to reshape the mayor’s and city administrator’s responsibilities; if the terms of the council members should be changed, or whether elections should be staggered; and such things as whether the city treasurer should revert to an appointed position.
With such a voluminous amount of work, City Attorney Chuck Apt urged council members to proceed slowly.
“It would be best if you only had to redo these charter ordinances once,” Apt said. “It’s not an inexpensive process.”
Council members Kendall Callahan, Beverly Franklin, Jim Kilby and Ken Rowe volunteered to serve as a charter ordinance committee, to go over each ordinance to help the council determine which ones to change.
TWO OF THE more pressing issues, councilmen agreed, was whether to change the mayor’s responsibilities in the new format, and how those responsibilities would affect the city administrator.
With a mayor-council form of government, the mayor has more authority. For example, Mayor Bill Shirley has “superintending control of all the officers and affairs of the city.” Those powers include many responsibilities that also lie with City Administrator Judy Brigham.
Shirley also has the right to fire employees and make or end appointments without the council oversight. Council members pointed to Humboldt, in which newly elected Mayor Nobby Davis has announced he will not retain Humboldt Police Chief Dan Onnen.
While Shirley noted that he would take no such actions without the council’s blessings, Councilman Scott Stewart said future mayors would not be bound to the same practice unless the ordinance was changed.
Callahan agreed.
“It’s easy to say Bill is not power hungry, but what we’re doing is setting up a new form of government,” Callahan said. “We have to do all we can to prevent future problems.”
Apt noted that the changes do not have to happen quickly. The council has until 2013 before such things as council members’ terms can change, anyway.
But there is one note of urgency. Brigham retires in September, and 25 hopefuls have applied.
Apt noted that some have suggested increasing the administrator’s authority, to include the capacity to hire and fire employees.
“If I was applying for a job, I’d want to know what my responsibilities are,” Rowe agreed. “It’s just not good for the mayor and administrator to share that authority.”
OTHER CHARTER ordinances will have to change, simply because the old ordinances refer to Iola’s “commission” and not “council,” Rowe said.
“There are some charters that set the duties and powers of the new council that should mirror the duties and powers of the old city commission,” Rowe said.
Apt pointed to an item he considered the least controversial, whether the treasurer should be appointed or elected. Deb Troxel had been appointed as treasurer for the past several years before being elected unopposed in April.
But her election raises an issue, City Clerk Roxanne Hutton said.
Under the current format, Troxel — who works in the city utilities office — could lose her job with the city, yet still be allowed access to Iola’s financial records because she holds an elected position.
“That’s definitely not a reflection on Deb,” Hutton stressed. Rather, it’s illustrative of a flaw in the new system.
But if the treasurer is appointed, the appointment could be rescinded if the city employee was fired.
