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Charter Review Commission
July 13, 2005
Dear Mayor Barnes and Members of the City Council:
The Charter Review Commission is pleased to have been invited to serve you and the citizens of Kansas City and proud to present this proposed new charter to you today. We have been working since February, meeting 12 times as a Commission in discussions or taking testimony and six public hearings in each of the six Council districts. City staff and citizens of Kansas City are very civic-minded and that was affirmed again during the course of our work.
Building on the work of the Commission from 2000-2001, we decided to use the July 2001 charter proposal as our base document. The charter we are presenting is an even more streamlined charter that is more constitutional in nature. We expect that those aspects of the current charter that are more operational in nature should become part of the code of ordinances giving future Mayors and Councils operational flexibility to deal with changing circumstances.
We looked at all aspects of city government: form of government, council structure, election dates, term limits, the Parks and Recreation Department structure, City Departments, recall, referendum, and initiatives, and the implementation of the new charter.
We recommend that the form of government should not change including the council structure. The Commission also recommends there be no change to the Parks and Recreation Department, term limits, recall, referendum, and initiative petitions inside the base document of the charter. We do believe the issues of term limits and recall deserve some special consideration, but we believe that those issues should not overshadow the overriding opportunity of presenting a new constitutional charter to the citizens for their acceptance.
Most importantly we decided to make two major changes to the current charter. One is in the delineation of the City departments. We took hundreds of pages of operational detail for each department and streamlined that detail into simpler language that gives maximum operational flexibility to future Mayors, Councils, and City Managers in setting up and running the departments of city government.
The other change is in election dates. We believe that Kansas City should join all of the other state’s municipalities by conducting the general election on the Tuesday after the first Monday in April. The Primary then would take place four weeks prior to the General Election. Using the state’s Municipal Election and School Board date will save money and give slightly warmer weather a chance to prevail on Election Day.
Further, it is our recommendation that on the ballot in April, 2006, the voters should be given the opportunity to consider a change in term limits to three consecutive terms. The Commission did not feel there was a need to impose a lifetime limit. It is also our recommendation that on the April 2006 ballot, there should be a second amendment presented to the voters that would require that any recall petition would have to state cause for such recall. Copies of the proposed changes are attached as “Proposed Ballot for April 2006.”
We believe that the clearest way to present these recommendations to the voters of Kansas City, Missouri is to present the new streamlined charter, without any change in term limits or recall as a stand-alone question on the November 8, 2005 ballot.
Both the issues of term limits and recall should not be allowed to overshadow the overreaching goal of streamlining our charter. We suggest that should the Council wait to present those two issues to voters that it is done at a future election. We heard in public testimony from throughout the City that voters would reject the base charter revision if the other changes were wrapped into one question or were presented at the same time.
We recommend that the charter changes should become effective as soon as practical, and those provisions are spelled out in the charter.
As was mentioned by a couple of Council members, the Commission would be receptive to a work session to go over this new charter and we wait to hear if or when you would like to host that proposed session.
We also could not have done without the great staff work. Pat Terry from the City Clerk’s office took the minutes that are attached to this report. That was a very time consuming and monumental job. Also, Mark Funkhouser has attended almost every meeting and has been invaluable in pointing out pros and cons of various ideas. Greg Williams from Mayor Barnes’ staff has helped keep us organized and took all of the meeting minutes from the public meetings.
Finally we want to thank Bill Geary for his tireless work writing a brand new Charter. He has done the detail work of drafting the new charter and has been very patient as we asked many questions that may have seemed like second nature to him. His insight and careful, professional dedication have made possible the document we present for your consideration.
We want to thank you for allowing us to serve you and the citizens of Kansas City in this capacity. We look forward to your deliberations.
Respectfully submitted,
Terrence R. Ward, Chair
Charter Review Commission
Charter Review Commission
Terry Ward, Chair
Ricardo Herrera, Vice Chair
Edie Ballweg, Vice Chair
Aggie Stackhaus, Vice Chair
Bishop Mark Tolbert, Vice Chair
Phil Snowden
Alice Ellison
Pat Jordan
Frank Ellis
Janet Baker
Mary Jo Longstreth
Carolyn Vellar
Dan Porrevecchio
Jack Holland
Jim Rice
Karen Pletz
Mark Thornhill
Joseph Moreland
Mike White
Calvin Williford
Kelley Martin
Tom Brown
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