The governing and lawmaking body of the City of Levelland shall be the "City Council of the City of Levelland" and shall consist of a Mayor and four (4) councilmembers and the five (5) persons holding such positions shall constitute the City Council of the City of Levelland, shall be the only elective offices of the City, and shall be elected, hold office, and compensated as herein provided. Any three (3) of the aforementioned shall constitute a quorum.
(As amended 9-22-1973, 5-5-1992)
Candidates for Councilmember Positions and Mayor: Candidates for the office of Councilmember shall file their applications for District A, District B, District C, and District D, as the case may be, and shall be voted on and elected accordingly. Candidates for Mayor shall designate in their application that they are running for that office. No candidate may run for more than one office in any election.
(As amended 5-2-1991)
(A) 
Any qualified voter who resides within the City of Levelland, who is a citizen of the United States, and who meets the eligibility requirements of the laws of Texas shall have the right to seek election to the office of Councilmember or Mayor. In addition, persons seeking election to the Councilmember positions for District A, B, C, or D shall have resided within that District for six months prior to the first day on which candidates may submit application to be placed on the ballot for election. Persons seeking election to the office of Mayor may have resided within the corporate limits of the City of Levelland for six months prior to the first day on which candidates may submit application to be placed on the ballot for election.
Each candidate seeking election to the office of Mayor or Councilmember shall submit a written application on a form available from the City Secretary, which shall be submitted to the City Secretary in accordance with the Texas Election Code, as amended.
(As amended 9-22-1973; 5-5-1992 & 5/3/2025)
The Mayor shall be elected at large, and all registered voters of the City of Levelland shall be entitled to vote in elections for this office. Concerning elections for Councilmembers for Districts A, B, C, and D, only registered voters of the City of Levelland who reside within each District shall be entitled to vote in Councilmember elections for that District.
The boundaries of Districts A, B, C, and D shall be as they have existed since February 27, 1985, except that as soon as practicable after each federal census, the City shall by resolution make such adjustments in the boundaries of each District as are necessary to (1) insure that each District has approximately equal population and (2) insure that the population of at least one District is predominantly composed of persons belonging to minority racial and ethnic groups.
(As amended 5-5-1992)
In elections for the Mayor and Councilmembers from Districts A, B, C, and D, to be elected a candidate must receive a majority of all votes, casts. In the event no candidate receives a majority, a run-off election shall be conducted between the two candidates receiving the most votes.
(As amended 5-5-1992)
(A) 
The City Council shall be the judge of the election and qualification of its own members and of the Mayor, subject to review of the courts in case of contest. The City Council shall canvas the returns and declare the results of such election in accordance with the Texas Election Code, as amended.
The regular municipal elections of the City of Levelland, Texas shall be held on the uniform election day prescribed by the Texas Election Code. The election shall be conducted and the results canvassed and announced by the election authorities as prescribed by the Texas Election Code and the general elections laws of the State of Texas, as amended, and said Texas Election Code and general election laws of Texas shall control in all municipal elections.
(As amended 5-5-1992 & 5/3/2025)
Should any candidate fail to receive a majority of the votes at the election for the office for which he is a candidate, the governing authority shall immediately order a Runoff Election to be held on a date as prescribed by the Texas Election Code, as amended, at which runoff election the names only of the two candidates receiving the highest number of votes at said former election, for the office for which they were candidates, shall be printed on the ballot and submitted to the qualified voters for election, and the candidate receiving the majority of votes at such runoff election for the place or office for which he was a candidate shall be declared elected.
(As amended 5-2-1992 & 5/3/2025)
All officers of the City of Levelland, whether elective or appointive, shall qualify by taking any required oath prescribed by the Constitution of this State, and by executing such bond as may be required by the provisions of this Charter and the ordinances and resolutions of the City.
(As amended 5/3/2025)
The Mayor shall serve for a term of three (3) years, and until his/her successor is elected and qualified, unless sooner removed from office. Councilmembers shall serve for a term of two years, and until his/her successor is elected and qualified, unless sooner removed from office.
The terms of the Councilmembers presently representing Councilmember District A, B, C, and D shall not be affected by passage of this provision.
(As amended 5-5-1992)
A vacancy occurring in the City Council, including the office of mayor, shall be filled by a person having the qualifications of an elective official of the city and selected in the following manner: If a single vacancy occurs and the City Council member's seat which is vacated has less than one year remaining, then the City Council may appoint a successor to serve the remainder of the term. If the position that is vacated has more than one year remaining, then the City Council shall appoint a successor to serve until the next regular city election at which time the position will be placed on the ballot for the remainder of the unexpired term. If two or more vacancies occur at one time, a special election shall be called by the remaining members of the City Council in accordance with the Election Code to fill the vacancies for the unexpired terms.
(As amended 5-5-1992 & 5/3/2025)
The mayor Pro-Tem shall be selected from among the members of the Council at the first regular Council meeting after the regular municipal election or any runoff election and shall perform all the duties of the Mayor in the absence or disability of said Mayor.
(As amended 5/3/2025)
(A) 
The Mayor shall receive a salary in an amount to be fixed by the City Council, but which amount shall in no event be more than FIFTY AND NO/100 DOLLARS ($50.00) per month or less than TWENTY-FIVE AND NO/100 DOLLARS ($25.00) per month.
(B) 
Each councilman shall receive the sum of FIVE AND NO/100 DOLLARS ($5.00) for each meeting of the Council attended by him, provided that no councilman shall receive a greater compensation than TWENTY-FIVE AND NO/100 ($25.00) per month.
The Mayor of the City of Levelland shall be the presiding officer of the City Council. The mayor shall be entitled to vote upon all matters considered by the City Council, but he shall have no veto power. He shall sign all bonds, warrants, and other official documents, be the official head of the City and exercise all powers and perform all duties imposed upon him by this Charter and by the ordinances of the City, and the resolution of the City Council.
(As amended 5/3/2025)
(A) 
The City Council shall have all powers necessary and incident to the proper discharge of the duties imposed upon it and is hereby vested with all power necessary to carry out the terms and provisions of this Charter; it being intended that the City Council and Mayor shall have and exercise all powers that may hereafter be granted to municipalities by the Constitution or laws of the State of Texas, and all powers enumerated in this Charter or implied thereby.
(B) 
All powers of the City and the determination of all matters of policy shall be vested in the City Council. The City Council shall, through the City Manager, exercise overall supervision of the municipal government. It shall, by majority vote, appoint the Municipal Court Judge, City Manager, and City Attorney, each of whom shall serve at its pleasure. The Chief of Police and City Secretary shall be appointed by the City Manager and these appointments shall be confirmed by a majority vote of the City Council. Neither the City Council nor any of its members shall in any manner control or demand the appointment or removal of any administrative officer or employee whom the City Manager or any subordinate of the City Manager is empowered to appoint.
(C) 
The compensation of all appointive officers and employees shall be fixed by the City Council, who may increase or diminish such compensation at will or abolish any appointive office entirely at any time.
(As amended 5-5-1992 & 5/3/2025)
The City Council shall hold at least one regular meeting in each month at a time fixed by it for such regular meetings, and may hold as many additional meetings during the month as may be necessary for the transaction of the business of the City and its citizens.
The City Council may hold such special meetings as it deems necessary and appropriate. Special meetings shall be called by the City Secretary upon request of the Mayor, Mayor Pro-Tem in the absence of the Mayor, City Manager, or a majority of the members of the City Council.
(As amended 5-5-1992)
A majority of the City Council shall constitute a quorum to do business and the affirmative vote of a majority of those attending any meeting at which there is a quorum present shall be necessary and sufficient to adopt any ordinance or resolution, except when otherwise required by the Charter or applicable state law. All meetings of the City Council shall be conducted in accordance with the Texas Open Meetings Act, as amended, and minutes of all proceedings shall be available to the public pursuant to the Public Information Act of the State of Texas, as amended. The vote upon the passage of all ordinances and resolutions shall be by the "ayes" and "nays" and entered upon the minutes, and every ordinance or resolution, upon its final passage, shall be recorded in a book kept for that purpose and shall be authenticated by the signature of the Mayor or Mayor Pro-Tem and the person performing the duties of City Secretary.
(As amended 5/3/2025)
Each proposed ordinance or resolution shall be introduced in writing or printed form and shall not contain more than one subject which shall be clearly expressed in the title, except ordinances or resolutions making appropriations or authorizing the contracting of indebtedness or issues of bonds or other evidence of indebtedness. No ordinance, unless it be declared an emergency measure, shall be passed finally on the date it is introduced, but must be presented and have the caption read, be voted upon, and passed at two separate meetings, either regular or special meetings, of the City Council.
(As amended 5/3/2025)
An emergency measure is an ordinance or resolution for the immediate preservation of the public business, property, health or safety, or providing for the usual daily operation of a municipal department, in which the emergency is set forth in such ordinance or resolution. Ordinances or resolutions appropriating money to defray current or other expenses of the City may be passed as emergency measures, but no ordinance or resolution making a grant, renewal or extension of a franchise or other special privilege, or regulating the return to be charged for services furnished the public generally by any public utility shall be passed as an emergency measure.
All ordinances of the City of Levelland now in existence and not inconsistent with the provisions of this Charter shall remain in full force and effect until altered, amended or repealed by the City Council.
It shall be sufficient in all judicial proceedings to plead any ordinance of the City by caption without embodying the entire ordinance in the pleadings, and all pleaded ordinances or codes of ordinances shall be admitted in evidence in any suit and shall have the same force and effect as the original ordinance. Certified copies of ordinances may also be used in evidence in lieu of original ordinances.
Within ten days after its passage, every ordinance imposing a penalty, fine or forfeiture, for violation of any of its provisions and every other ordinance required to be published by general law of the state or this Charter, shall be published by descriptive caption or title, stating in summary the purpose of the ordinance and the penalty for violation thereof if any, in a newspaper of general circulation within the city or shall be submitted to the City's publisher for codified ordinances, and shall take effect upon publication unless the ordinance or this Charter specifies a later time. Every other ordinance shall take effect upon its final passage unless the ordinance or this Charter specifies a later time.
(As amended 9-22-1973 & 5/3/2025)
The City Council of the City of Levelland may abolish or consolidate such offices and departments as it may deem to the best interest of the City and may divide the administration of any such department and discontinue any offices or departments at its discretion, except as to the Offices of Mayor and City Council.
The City Manager shall appoint, subject to approval by the City Council, a City Secretary. The City Secretary shall attend all meetings of the City Council and keep accurate minutes of its proceedings. The City Secretary shall preserve and keep in order all books, papers, documents, records, and files of the City Council and of the executive departments. The City Secretary shall keep a record of all commissions and licenses issued and shall countersign same. The City Secretary shall have custody of the seal of the city and shall perform such other duties as the City Manager shall assign or as elsewhere provided for in this Charter or as required by law. The City Secretary may be removed from office by the City Manager, subject to approval by the City Council.
(As amended 5-5-1992 & 5/3/2025)
(A) 
There shall be established and maintained a court designated as a "Municipal Court" for the trail of misdemeanor offenses, with all such powers and duties as are now or hereafter may be permitted by the laws of Texas to municipal courts.
(B) 
The Judge of said court shall be a qualified voter of the City of Levelland; shall be appointed by the City Council; shall hold his office at the pleasure of the City Council; and shall receive such salary of office as may be fixed by resolution, order or ordinance of the City Council.
(C) 
The City Secretary or his deputy shall be ex-officio clerk of said court and shall receive such salary as may be fixed by the City Council.
(D) 
The Clerk of said court and his deputies shall have the power to administer oaths and affidavits, make certificates, affix the seal of said court thereto, and generally do and perform any and all acts usual and necessary by the Clerk of courts in issuing process of said courts and conducting the business thereof.
(E) 
The City Council may designate a person to act as Judge of the Municipal Court in the event of the disability or absence of the regular Judge of said court, such designation and appointment to be made either in a regular or special meeting called for that purpose. Such substitute Judge of the Municipal Court shall have all of the powers, authority and duties hereinabove conferred upon the regular Judge of the Municipal court and shall receive such salary for his services as designated by the City Council by order, resolution, or ordinance. Such appointment of a substitute Judge may be done in advance of the regular Judge becoming disabled or absent from the City, so that in the event the regular Judge does become disabled or absent from the City, the substitute Judge can act accordingly.
(As amended 9-22-1973)
The City of Levelland shall comply with the state nepotism laws regarding which persons are not qualified to be appointed to any office, position, clerkship, or other service of the city.
(As amended 5/3/2025)
The City Council of the City of Levelland shall have the right to require official bond from all appointive officers or employees of the City in such amounts as said City Council may from time to time fix by ordinance or resolution and condition for the faithful discharge of the duties of his office and accounting for all monies, credits and things of value coming into the hands of such officers or employees; and all such bonds shall be signed as surety by some surety company authorized to do business under the laws of this State, and the premiums accruing thereon shall be paid by the City of Levelland.
The City Council shall cause an annual audit to be made of the books of accounts of each and every department of the City. Such audit shall be made by a competent public accountant, who shall be selected by the City Council. The report of the audit shall be accessible to the public and may be published should the City Council elect to do so.
It shall be the duty of the Chief of Police to enforce all laws and ordinances of the City of Levelland; he shall supervise and direct all city policemen in their work; he shall furnish police protection to all citizens and their property in said city; he shall furnish when requested, a police escort for all funerals held in the City; he shall furnish a sufficient number of policemen to aid in the fighting of fires within the city and to direct traffic and assist firemen in fighting fires; he shall perform any and all other duties prescribed by ordinances, this Charter, or that he may be requested to perform by the City Manager and/or the City Council; he shall hold office at the will of the City Council.
(A) 
The Fiscal Year of the City of Levelland shall begin on the first day of October and shall end on the last day of September of each calendar year. Such fiscal year shall also constitute the Budget and Accounting year. The City Manager shall submit to the Council a proposed budget, which shall provide a complete financial plan for the fiscal year, in accordance with the laws of the State of Texas as the same now exist or as they may be amended. The Council shall arrange for and hold at least one public hearing on the budget during the period of its consideration. The level of control for adopted budgets shall be by Fund.
(B) 
No expenditure shall ever be made by the City except on checks drawn upon a fund for which a previous appropriation shall have been made. The City Budget may be amended and appropriations altered in accordance there with in cases of public necessity, the actual fact of which shall have been determined by the City Council.
(As amended 5-5-1992 & 5/3/2025)
In the event that a legal quorum of the elected City Council cannot be convened due to a disaster resulting in multiple injuries, deaths, or incapacity of officers, the surviving City Council members and officers first, then the following members of the following boards, shall constitute an interim City Council for purposes of meeting in numbers sufficient to constitute an interim City Council quorum, within fifteen (15) days of such disaster, or as provided in the Texas Election Code, and shall call for an election to fill vacant City Council positions. Such constituted interim City Council shall serve until the requested election occurs and shall possess all powers possessed by the elected City Council. Such qualifying individuals, in order of succession, shall be the (1) chairperson of the Planning & Zoning Commission, (2) board president of the Levelland Economic Development Corporation, (3) board president of the Levelland Community Development Corporation, (4) vice-chairperson of the Planning & Zoning Commission, and (5) vice-president of the board of the Levelland Economic Development Corporation type A. The City Council may pass, by ordinance, such additional succession procedures and authorizations as it deems necessary.
(As added 5/3/2025)