Published: May 10, 2008 12:25 pm      

Proponents say new charter is needed to keep city growing

McAlester residents who vote on the proposed new City Charter on Tuesday will have the option of reading the 33-page document before casting a ballot — but they still may have a difficult time telling how it’s different from the city’s current charter.

Copies of the proposed document are available at the Pittsburg County Election Board office, or online, at www.cityofmcalester.com.

The booklets will also be available at polling places on election day — and the printing on the cover advises voters to “Read entire booklet before casting ballot.”

Even if voters pour over its 33 pages in heavy concentration, however, nothing in the proposed new charter being supplied to voters at the polling places indicates what has been changed from the current one.

One way to tell might be through a line-by-line comparison of the two documents — but even then, there’s not a complete linear trail to follow.

In some instances, entire sections have been shifted or are newly-created.

For example, Article 5 in the current charter is basically two paragraphs dealing with municipal court, while Article 5 in the proposed new charter covers nearly seven pages dealing with financial management.

Some of those who worked on putting together the proposed new charter said they felt the city needed an entirely new document.

“It’s just that we’ve got a situation where things have been patched so many times,” Phil Beatty, one of the charter committee members, said.

He said the group took a model city charter and reviewed it. The proposed new charter includes things the city needs, such as an oversight committee, he said.

Beatty said he didn’t feel the proposed new charter contained any specific things he wanted to point out, but he feels it has more clarity than the current one.

“Our intent was to have more openness,” Beatty said.

“I would like to encourage people to vote,” he said. “I’m glad to see this coming to a fruition as far as people being able to vote.”

Another charter committee member, Debbie Quadracci, said she believes the important thing is that citizens of McAlester worked on the proposed new charter.

She said the city’s current charter, adopted in 1972, has since been amended 47 times.

She said the charter committee wanted to make information easier to find.

For example, with the new charter, all of the information on finances would be in one area, and the issues that relate to the city council would be in another.

“It’s written so that a high school student can understand it,” Quadracci said.

“The Charter is a framework for our government, like our constitution,” she said. “It’s user-friendly for the council, the employees and the citizens.”

She said she believes it’s important to have the City’s Audit & Finance Advisory Committee included in the new charter.

“I’m not a financial person,” she said. “I have to ask experts before I know what I’m doing.” She said the city council can benefit from input from financial experts, and she noted that ultimately the city council will make the decisions.

She thinks the proposed new charter covers a lot of bases.

“City employees have rights and responsibilities; citizens have rights and responsibilities; the council and elected officials have rights and responsibilities,” Quadracci said.

“We looked at the past. We looked at the present and we looked at the future. We want what’s best for our community. We live here too.”

Sharon Ervin, another charter committee member, said “One of the most important things is I think we need to have some financial oversight.”

“We are a $20 million industry,” she said, referring to the city. “We can’t let a single person decide how we will spend our money.” She said she thinks it’s important that more people be involved. Voters have left it up to one person to make decisions in the past, she said.

“I don’t think we did that person any favors.”

She referred to the City Charter as the rules for the city.

“Anyone running the city, it gives them backbone. It gives them teeth,” Ervin said.

She also said the current charter has already been amended 47 times.

When the charter committee began working on the charter, “We decided everything would have to be unanimous or it wouldn’t go in,” she said. “I had some things I wanted changed that were not going to fly.”

The committee did a lot of revisions.

“We revised the document every two weeks,” she said.

In the end, “We came up with a great document,” Ervin said.

Other members of the Charter Committee are Chairman Tim Wynn, Weldon Smith, John Cathey and Dorothy Crone.

One thing that will be different if the new charter passes is in Article 7: The creation of an independent Board of Ethics to administer and enforce conflict of interest and financial disclosure ordinances.

“Insofar as possible under state law,” the Ethics Board would be authorized to “issue binding advisory opinions, conduct investigations on its own initiative and on referral or complaint from citizens, subpoena witnesses and documents, refer cases for prosecution, impose administrative fines, and to hire independent counsel, subject to notification to the City Council.”

The provision also requires the council to appropriate sufficient money to the Board of Ethics to perform its duties and to provide annual training and education of city employees, including candidates for public office, regarding the city’s Code of Ethics.

In the Conflict of Interest provision, there is a prohibition against the use of public office for private gain and prohibition against officials acting on official matters in which the official has a private financial interest clearly separate from that of the general public.

It also calls for “reasonable public disclosure” of finances by city officials who make major decisions on how money is spent, as well as on contracts and regulations.

None of the Board of Ethics members charged with enforcing the conflict of interest and financial disclosure ordinances would be allowed to hold an elective or appointive office, whether under the city or any other form of government. Board members would also not be allowed to hold any political party office.

Other parts of the proposed new City Charter include:

• A provision which states that to ensure policies are followed and goals are achieved, the city council “shall exercise its oversight responsibilities through regular, systematic and rigorous performance monitoring.”

• A passage to reduce the number of signatures needed on recall petitions for city officials to 25 percent of the total number of votes cast at the previous general city election. That’s 10 percent less than the 35 percent currently required.

• Sets minimum qualifications for a city finance director, including a bachelor’s degree in accounting or finance and progressively responsible experience in accounting and financial management.

• Requires the city manager to submit to the city council and the Audit & Finance Advisory Committee a budget for the ensuing fiscal year and an accompanying message. The materials will be due 45 days from the last day of the fiscal year, which ends on June 30.

• States that an emergency fund will be included in the budget and “every reasonable attempt shall be made to maintain this fund at 10 percent of the total operating budget including capital improvements.”

• Requires the city manager to submit a mid-year review of the budget to the council on or before the last day of January.

When casting ballots in the Tuesday election, voters will not have the option they’ve had in previous elections of voting for, or against, each proposed change on its own merits.

This time, they will either have to accept, or reject, the proposed new charter in its entirety.

One thing’s for certain. If voters approve it, they won’t have a long wait before they start living under its provisions.

Page 32 of the 33-page document states the proposed new charter will go into effect immediately upon its ratification by a vote of the people.