The Commission shall appoint an officer of the City who shall have the title of city manager and who shall have the powers and perform the duties in this Charter provided. No commissioner shall receive such appointment during the term for which he shall have been elected, nor within one year after the expiration of his term.
The Commission shall appoint the City Manager for an indefinite term and may remove him by a majority vote of its members. At least thirty days before such removal shall become effective, the Commission shall by a majority vote of its members adopt a preliminary resolution stating the reasons for his removal. The manager may reply in writing and may request a public hearing, which shall be held not earlier than twenty days nor later than thirty days after the filing of such request. After such public hearing, if one be requested, and after full consideration, the Commission by majority vote of its members may adopt a final resolution of removal.
Neither the Commission nor any of its members shall direct the appointment of any person to, or his removal from office, by the city manager or by any of his subordinates; provided, however, that the appointment of department heads shall be subject to the approval of the Commission.
Except for the purpose of inquiry the City Commission and its members shall deal with the administrative service solely through the city manager and neither the Commission nor any member thereof shall give orders to any subordinates of the City Manager, either publicly or privately.
The City Manager, the heads of all departments and such other officers of the City as may be designated by vote of the City Commission shall be entitled to attend meetings of the City Commission but shall have no vote therein. The City Manager shall have the right to take part in the discussion of all matters coming before the City Commission and the directors and other officers shall be entitled to take part in all discussions of the City Commission relating to their respective offices, departments or agencies.
There are hereby created the following administrative departments: Finance, Police, Public Works and Water.
The Commission may, if it deems advisable, consolidate into one department not more than two of the departments hereby established. The Commission by ordinance may create, change and abolish offices, departments or other agencies other than the offices, departments, and agencies established by this Charter.
The Commission shall designate an officer of the city who shall be recommended by the City Manager to serve as Clerk of the Commission and as City Secretary. He shall give notices of its meetings, shall keep the journal of its proceedings, shall authenticate by his signature and record in full in a book kept for the purpose all ordinances and resolutions and shall perform such other duties as the City Manager shall assign to him. And the Commission shall meet at least once a month and as many times as may be necessary and all such meetings shall be open to the public. After the first regular municipal election, the City Commission shall designate its regular meeting times, which such times may be thereafter changed by ordinance of the City Commission. The City Clerk shall also serve as ex-officio treasurer of the City of Hereford and shall countersign all checks and bonds and shall enter into a bond for the performance of his duty as City Treasurer as may be required by the City Commission.
The premium on all bonds required of the city officials shall be paid out of the funds of the City of Hereford, Texas.
(a) 
There shall be established and maintained a court designated as a “Corporation Court” for the trial of misdemeanor offenses, with all such powers and duties as are now or hereafter may be prescribed by the laws of the State of Texas relative to Corporation or Recorder’s Courts.
(b) 
Said Court shall have jurisdiction within the territorial limits of said City of all criminal cases arising under the ordinances of such City, and shall have concurrent jurisdiction with the Justice of the Peace of the Precinct, or Precincts, in which the City is or may be situated of all criminal cases arising under the criminal laws of the State, where the offense is committed within the territorial limits of said City and the punishment is by fine only and the maximum of said fine, under the laws of this state, may not exceed two hundred dollars ($200.00). Said court shall have no civil jurisdiction, except for the forfeiture and collection of bonds given in proceedings herein. It shall also have jurisdiction of violations of ordinances of the city enacted for the preservation of its water system, watersheds of the city’s water supply and the purity of the water supply, its sewer disposal plant and its garbage dumping grounds, whether such offenses are committed inside or outside of the Corporate limits of the City of Hereford, and the violations of any nuisance ordinance within five thousand feet of the Corporate limits of the City, outside of the city limits.
(c) 
The Judge of said Court shall be a qualified voter of the City of Hereford, shall be appointed by the City Commission, shall hold his office at the pleasure of the City Commission, and shall receive such salary as may be fixed by the City Commission.
(d) 
The Judge of said Corporation Court shall have power to punish for contempt to the same extent and under the same circumstances as the Justice of the Peace may punish for contempt in all criminal cases.
(e) 
All complaints, prosecution, the service of process, commitment of those convicted of offenses, the collection and payment of fines, the attendance and service of witnesses and juries, punishment for contempt, bail and the taking of bonds shall be governed by the provisions of Vernon’s Ann. C.C.P. tit. 2 applicable to Corporation Courts.
(f) 
The City Secretary or an assistant City Secretary shall be ex-officio clerk of said court.
(g) 
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.
(h) 
That City Commission may from time to time appoint a qualified voter of the City to act as temporary judge of said Court in case of the disability or absence of the regular Judge.
(Ordinance 1114, sec. VII, adopted 3/2/81)
The Commission shall be the judge of the election and qualification of its members and for such purpose shall have power to subpoena witnesses and require the production of records, but the decision of the Commission in any such case shall be subject to review by the Courts.
No person shall be employed by the City of Hereford who is related either by blood or marriage to any member of the City Commission or the City Manager.
The Commission shall determine its own rules and order of business. It shall keep a journal of its proceedings and the journal shall be open to public inspection.
In addition to such acts of the Commission as are required by statute or by this Charter to be by ordinance, every act of the Commission 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 COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF HEREFORD.”
Every ordinance shall be introduced in written or printed form and, upon passage, shall take effect at the time indicated therein; provided that any ordinances 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. The city clerk shall give notice of the passage of every ordinance imposing a penalty, fine or forfeiture for a violation of the provisions thereof, by causing description [a descriptive] caption or title, including a summary of the purpose of the ordinance and the penalty, of any such ordinance, to be published in the official newspaper in the City of Hereford at least twice within ten days after the passage of said ordinance. He shall note on every ordinance, the caption of which is hereby required to be published, and on the record thereof, the fact that same has been published as required by this Charter, and the date of such publication, which shall be prima facie evidence of the legal publication and promulgation of such ordinance; provided, that the provisions of this section shall not apply to the correction, amendment, revision and codification of the ordinances of the city for publication in book or pamphlet form. Except as otherwise provided in Section 17C, Article III of this Charter, 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 City Commission. Every ordinance shall be authenticated by the signature of the mayor and city clerk and shall be systematically recorded in an ordinance book in a manner approved by the Commission. It shall only be necessary to record the descriptive caption or title of ordinance in the minutes or journal of commission meetings. The City Commission 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 Commission deems advisable, and such printed code, when adopted by the Commission, 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.
The Commission shall have power to inquire into the conduct of any office, department, agency or officer of the city and to make investigations as to municipal affairs, and for that purpose may subpoena witnesses, administer oaths, and compel the production of books, papers and other evidence. Failure to obey such subpoena or to produce books, papers and other evidence as ordered under the provisions of this section shall constitute a misdemeanor and shall be punishable by fine not to exceed one hundred dollars.
Once each year and such other times as the City Commission may direct, the Commission shall designate a certified public accountant who, as of the end of each fiscal year, shall make an independent audit of accounts and other evidences of financial transactions of the city government and shall submit their report to the Commission. Notice shall be given by publication in the official newspaper in the City of Hereford that the annual audit is on file at the City Hall for inspection. Such accountants shall have no personal interest, direct or indirect, in the fiscal affairs of the city government. They shall not maintain any accounts of record of the city business, but, within specifications approved by the City Commission, shall post audit the books and documents kept by the department of finance and any separate or subordinate accounts kept by any other office, department or agency of the city government.
The City Commission shall have the authority to provide a plan or method for the insuring and retirement system for all of its appointive officers and employees as provided by the laws of the State of Texas; the City of Hereford participating in a part of said plan and the appointive officers and the employees participating therein.