The municipal government of the city shall consist of a mayor and five councilmembers that shall be elected from the city at large by the qualified electors of the city.
(Ordinance 22-934 adopted 5/26/22)
Elections for the mayor and members of city council shall be held on dates prescribed by the Texas Election Code. An elected officer may be a candidate for reelection to the office they then hold, but otherwise no person may be a candidate for mayor or councilmember who is then either an elected or appointed officer, employee, or agent of the City of Humble. Candidates for city council shall run for Place No. One, Place No. Two, Place No. Three, Place No. Four, Place No. Five or for mayor, as the case may be.
At any regular or special election held for such purpose, the candidate who shall have received the majority of votes cast for the office or place for which they are a candidate shall be declared elected; provided, however, tie votes shall be determined as provided by the Texas Election Code.
(Ordinance 22-934 adopted 5/26/22)
The terms of office for mayor and councilmember Place No. One and Place No. Two shall commence in odd numbered calendar years, and the terms of office for councilmember Place No. Three, Place No. Four and Place No. Five shall commence in even numbered calendar years. The terms of office of all elected officers shall be for a period of two years, or until their successors are duly qualified.
(Ordinance 22-934 adopted 5/26/22)
All city elections shall be governed, except as otherwise provided by the Charter, by the laws of the State of Texas governing general and municipal elections, so far as the same may be applicable thereto; and in the event there should be any failure of the general laws of or [sic] this Charter to provide for some feature of the city elections, then the council shall have the power to provide for such deficiency, and no informalities in conducting a city election shall invalidate the same, if it be conducted fairly and in substantial compliance with the general laws, where applicable, and the Charter and ordinances of the city. The city council shall be the judge of the election and qualification of its own members, subject to judicial review in the case of contests.
Returns of all elections shall be made by the election officers to the city council in accordance with State law, after which time the council shall canvass and declare the results of the election as the first item of business. Newly elected officers may enter upon their duties immediately thereafter upon qualifying for office. If any officer fails to qualify within thirty (30) days after their election, their office shall be deemed vacant and such vacancy filled in accordance with the provisions of this Charter for filling vacancies in office.
(Ordinance 22-934 adopted 5/26/22)
The mayor and each councilmember shall be at least eighteen (18) years of age and shall be both a qualified and a registered voter of the City of Humble for a period of at least one year immediately prior to the election. The mayor and councilmembers shall not hold any other elected public office. Failure of a member of the city council to maintain the residency requirement shall result in such office being automatically vacated.
(Ordinance 22-934 adopted 5/26/22)
A vacancy in the office of mayor or councilmember may be filled either by appointment by majority vote of the remaining members of city council, or by a special election held for such purpose. When vacancies occur so that there is less than a majority remaining on the city council, then a special election shall be called for the first uniform election date falling more than sixty (60) days from the date such vacancies occur.
(Ordinance 22-934 adopted 5/26/22)
The city council shall hold at least one regular monthly meeting and the mayor or three councilmembers may call as many special meetings as may be necessary to attend to the municipal business. Each councilmember and the mayor shall receive for their services a salary established by ordinance. An officer’s compensation set under this section may not change during the term for which the officer is elected or appointed. In addition, members of the city council may be reimbursed for actual expenses incurred in the performance of their official duties with the approval of the city council at a regular meeting.
(Ordinance 22-934 adopted 5/26/22)
The mayor shall preside at meetings of the city council and shall be entitled to vote on all matters considered by the council, but shall have no regular administrative duties. The mayor shall exercise such other powers and perform such other duties as are or may be conferred and imposed by this Charter and the ordinances of the city. The mayor shall be recognized as the head of the city government for all ceremonial purposes and by the government for purposes of military law. In times of public danger or emergency, the mayor may declare a local state of disaster and issue such other orders and take such other actions necessary to maintain order and enforce the law. When authorized by the city council, the mayor shall sign official documents, such as ordinances, resolutions, conveyances, grant agreements, official plats, contracts and bonds.
(Ordinance 22-934 adopted 5/26/22)
If a vacancy occurs in the office of mayor or in the case of the mayor’s absence or disability, the mayor pro tem shall act as mayor until a successor is elected or appointed and has qualified. At the first meeting of each new council, or as soon thereafter as practicable, one of the councilmembers shall be elected mayor pro tempore, who shall hold such office one year. In case of the failure, inability or refusal of the mayor to act, the mayor pro tempore shall perform the duties of mayor. When serving as the presiding officer at city council meetings, the mayor pro tempore shall have the same rights and privileges as provided for the mayor in this Charter. In the case of absence from the city or the failure, inability or refusal of both the mayor and mayor pro tempore to perform the duties of mayor, the city council may, at a council meeting, by a vote of three affirmative votes, elect an acting mayor pro tempore, who shall serve as mayor with all the power and privileges of mayor until either the mayor or mayor pro tempore shall resume the duties of such office.
(Ordinance 22-934 adopted 5/26/22)
All powers of the city and the determination of all matters of policy shall be vested in the city council. Without limitation of the foregoing and among the powers that may be exercised by the council, the following are hereby enumerated for greater certainty:
(1) 
Appoint and remove the city manager.
(2) 
Adopt budget of the city.
(3) 
Inquire into the conduct of any officer, department or agency of the city and make investigations as to municipal affairs and authorize the correction of irregularities.
(4) 
Approve or provide for approval of subdivision plats.
(5) 
Adopt and modify the official map of the city.
(6) 
May provide for the establishment and designation of fire limits and to prescribe the character of buildings or structures or improvements to be erected therein, and to provide for the erection of fireproof buildings within certain limits, and to provide for the condemnation of dangerous structures or buildings or dilapidated buildings calculated to increase the fire hazard, and the manner of their removal or destruction.
(7) 
Adopt, modify, and carry out plans for the clearance of slum districts and rehabilitation of blighted areas.
(8) 
Adopt, modify and carry out plans for the replanning, improvement and redevelopment of neighborhoods and for the replanning, reconstruction or redevelopment of any area or district which may have been destroyed in whole or in part by disaster.
Editor’s note–The subsection numbering in the section above was corrected without notation.
(Ordinance 22-934 adopted 5/26/22)
In addition to such acts of the council as are required by statute or by this Charter to be by ordinance, every act of the council establishing a fine or other penalty or providing for the expenditure of funds or for the contracting of indebtedness shall be by ordinance. The enacting clause of all ordinances shall be, “BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF HUMBLE: ...”.
(Ordinance 22-934 adopted 5/26/22)
Every ordinance shall be introduced in written form and, upon passage, shall take effect at the time indicated therein; provided that any ordinance imposing a penalty, fine or forfeiture for a violation of its provisions shall become effective not less than ten days from the date of its passage. Except as required by state law, the city secretary shall give notice of the passage of every ordinance imposing a penalty, fine or forfeiture for a violation of the provisions thereof, by causing the caption or title, including the penalty, of any such ordinance to be published (i) in the official newspaper in the City of Humble at least once within ten days after the passage of said ordinance, or (ii) by posting on the municipal bulletin board at City Hall and on the City’s internet website continuously for twenty (20) days after passage. The city secretary shall note on every ordinance, which is required to be published the fact that same has been published as required by the Charter, and the date of such publication; provided that the provisions of this section shall not apply to the correction, amendment, revision and modification of the ordinances of the city for publication in book or pamphlet form. It shall not be necessary to the validity of any ordinance that it shall be read more than one time or considered at more than one session of the council. Every ordinance shall be authenticated by the signature of the mayor and city secretary and shall be systematically recorded in an ordinance book in a manner approved by the council. It shall only be necessary to record the caption or title of ordinances in the minutes or journal of council meetings. The council shall have power to cause the ordinances of the city to be corrected, amended, revised, codified and printed in code form as often as the council deems advisable, and such printed code, when adopted by the council, shall be in full force and effect without the necessity of publishing the same or any part thereof in a newspaper. Such printed code shall be admitted in evidence in all courts and places without further proof. Except as otherwise provided by law or this Charter, any requirement of the city council, or any board, department or officer of the city, to provide notice with respect to any real or personal property, act, event, hearing or other occurrence, by advertisement or notice, publication of such advertisement or notice on the municipal bulletin board and on the city’s internet website continuously for at least seventy-two hours (72) shall be sufficient public notice.
(Ordinance 22-934 adopted 5/26/22)
Prior to the end of each fiscal year, the council shall designate a certified public accountant, who is licensed by the State of Texas, to make an independent audit of accounts and other evidences of financial transactions of the city government and submit a report to the council within one hundred eighty (180) days from the closing date of the city’s fiscal year.
(Ordinance 22-934 adopted 5/26/22)