The municipal government for the City of Anson, shall consist of a City Council which shall be composed of five (5) Aldermen and the Mayor of the City.
At the regular election to be held on any May 2018 uniform election date as set out in Texas state law, there shall be elected by the qualified voters of the City of Anson two (2) aldermen: Alderman Place 4 and Alderman Place 5. At the regular election to be held on any 2019, uniform election date as set out in Texas state law, there shall be elected by the qualified voters of the City of Anson two (2) aldermen: Alderman Place 2 and Alderman Place 3. At the regular election to be held on any 2020 uniform election date as set out in Texas state law, there shall be elected by the qualified voters of the City of Anson Alderman Place 1 and the Mayor. The Mayor and each alderman shall serve and hold office for three (3) years and until his/her successor is elected and qualified, unless sooner removed from office as provided by law. Upon the passage of this Charter provision, the Mayor and all Council Members/Alderman shall holdover their terms of office until the election date set out in this Section.
(Amendment approved at election of 5/6/00; Ordinance 852 adopted 8/7/06, approved at election of 11/7/06; Ordinance 922, prop. 1, adopted 6/20/17, approved at election of 11/7/17)
Vacancies in the Council shall be filled by special election for the remainder of the unexpired term, as provided by ordinance.
The Mayor and each alderman shall be resident citizens of the City of Anson, having the qualifications of electors therein, and shall have been resident citizens of the City of Anson for a period of one year immediately next preceding such election. The Mayor, Aldermen, and other officers and employees shall not be indebted to the City; shall not hold any other public office of [or] emolument and shall not be interested in the profits or emoluments of any contracts[,] job, work or service for the municipality or interested in the sale to the City of any supplies, equipment, material or articles purchased. Any officer or employee of the City who shall cease to possess any of the qualifications herein required shall forth with forfeit his office and any such contract in which any officer or employee is or may become interested may be declared void by the Council. No officer or employee of the City (except policemen and firemen in uniform or wearing badge) shall accept any frank[,] free ticker [ticket], passes, or service or anything of value, directly or indirectly from any person, firm or corporation, upon terms more favorable than are granted to the public. Any violation of this section shall be a misdemeanor, and on conviction for such violation, such office or employment shall be forfeited.
The elective officers of the City shall consist of a Mayor and five (5) Aldermen, (the aldermen to be designated as aldermen No. 1, Alderman No. 2, Alderman No. 3, Aldermen No. 4, Aldermen No. 5) each of whom shall be elected to the office for which he is a candidate by a majority of the qualified voters of the City at large. Should any candidate fail to receive a majority of the votes at the regular election for the office for which he is a candidate, the Council shall immediately order a special election to be held not less than ten (10) nor more than twenty (20) days after the result of the regular election[;] the names of only the two candidates receiving the highest number of votes at the regular election for the place or office for which they were candidates shall be printed on the ballot and submitted to the qualified voters for election, and the candidate receiving a majority of the voters at such special election for the place or office for which he was a candidate, shall be declared duly elected. The Mayor and five (5) Aldermen shall be elected on the first Tuesday in April, 1920, and thereafter as herein provided. Alderman No. 1, Alderman No. 2, shall serve until the general election in 1921, and until their successors are elected and qualified: the Mayor and Alderman No. 3, and Alderman No. 4, and Alderman No. 5, shall serve until the general election in 1922, and until their successors are elected and qualified; and in like manner, alternating each year thereafter, the Mayor and three (3) Aldermen shall be elected to places number three (3), four (4) and five (5), and two aldermen for place numbers one (1) and two (2) shall be elected the year following.
The Council shall, on the next regular meeting day of said Council after each regular and special election canvass the return and declared the result of such election.
The regular municipal election of the City of Anson shall be held on any uniform election date as set out by Texas state law.
(Ordinance 922, prop. 2, adopted 6/20/17, approved at election of 11/7/17)
All elections provided for in this Charter, except the regular election held on the first Tuesday in April, 1920, and on said day every year thereafter shall be called special elections, and all elections shall be conducted and results canvassed and announced by the election authorities [as] prescribed by General Election Law [and said General Election Law] shall control in all municipal elections except as otherwise herein provided.
The Mayor of the City shall be the presiding officer of the Council and all Council meetings. In the Mayor’s absence or disqualification, a Mayor Pro-Tem shall be chosen by the Council and shall act as the presiding officer of the Council and all Council meetings during such absence or disqualification. The Mayor may participate in the discussion of all matters coming before the Council but shall be entitled to a vote as a member of the Council only when necessary to break a tie vote of the Council. The Mayor shall not be able to make motions or second motions. In the absence of the Mayor, the Mayor Pro-Tem shall be entitled to vote as a member of the Council, and make or second motions. The Mayor shall sign all bonds. The Mayor shall be the official head of the City and exercise all powers and perform all duties imposed upon him or her by this Charter and by the ordinances or resolutions of the City.
(Order adopted 3/23/20, prop. A, approved at election of 11/3/20)
On the first Monday at 10 o’clock A.M. after the election of the members of the Council for last year has been declared, the Council shall meet in the Council Chambers of the City Hall at which time the members elect of said Council shall qualify and assume the duties of their offices. Thereafter the Council shall meet at such time as may be prescribed by ordinance or resolution, but they shall meet at least twice each month. The Mayor, or the City Manager, hereinafter provide[d] for, May call special meetings of the Council at any time deemed advisable. All meetings of the Council shall be public, except such executive sessions as may be provided for by ordinances, and any citizen shall have access to the minutes and records thereof at all reasonable times. The Council shall determine its own rules and order of business and shall keep a Journal of its proceedings.
The Compensation of the Mayor and each Alderman shall be Three ($3.00) Dollars per diem for attendance upon each regular meeting of the Council, but not more than two regular meetings shall be held each month; provided, however, that a compensation shall [not] be allowed the Mayor or either Alderman if absent from any regular meeting of the Council, unless such absence be unavoidable, the reasons therefor be presented in writing and the same be considered sufficient by the other members of the Council and such reasons and excuses spread upon the Minutes of the proceedings.
A majority of all members elected on the Council, excluding the Mayor, shall constitute a quorum to do business. An affirmative vote of a majority of those Council members present, including the Mayor in the event of a tie vote, shall be necessary to adopt any ordinance, resolution or other matter. In the event of a tie vote of the Council, the Mayor may vote to break the tie. The vote upon the passage of all ordinances, resolutions or other matters shall be taken by “aye” or “nay” and entered into the minutes. Every ordinance, resolution or other matter passed by the Council and Mayor shall be signed by the Mayor and the person acting as City Secretary.
(Order adopted 3/23/20, prop. B, approved at election of 11/3/20)
Each proposed ordinance or resolution shall be introduced in written or printed forms, shall not contain more than one subject, which shall be clearly stated in the title, but general appropriation ordinances may contain the various subjects and accounts for which moneys are to be appropriated. No ordinance, unless it be declared an emergency measure, and passed by a unanimous vote of the Council, shall be passed on the day on which it shall be introduced.
An emergency measure is an ordinance or resolution for the immediate presentation of the public, peace, property, health or safety, or providing for the usual daily operation of a municipal department in which the emergency is set forth and defined in a preamble thereto. Ordinances appropriating money not exceeding One Thousand ($1,000.00) Dollars and ordinances for the payment of salaries and wages may be passed as emergency measures, but no measure making a grant, renewal or extension of a franchise, or other special privilege or regulating the rate to be changed for its services by any public utility, shall ever be passed as an emergency measure.
All ordinances, other than emergency measures, shall be published once a week for two (2) consecutive weeks, in some newspaper published in the City of Anson, and no ordinance shall become effective until ten (10) days after the date of its last publication. This section shall not apply to ordinances pertaining to City bonds.
Every ordinance or resolution, upon its becoming effective, shall be recorded in a book kept for that purpose and shall be authenticated by the signature of the Mayor and the party exercising the duties of City Clerk or Secretary.
The Council may investigate the financial transaction of any office or department of the City government, and the acts and conduct of an official or employee. In conducting such investigation, the Council may complete [compel] the attendance of witness, the production of books and papers, and other evidence and for that purpose may issue subpoenas or attachments which shall be signed by the Mayor; which may be served and executed by any officer authorized by law to serve subpoenas or other process or any peace officer of the City. If any witness shall refuse to appear or to testify to any facts within his knowledge or to produce any papers or books in his possession or under his control relating to the matter under investigation before the Council, the Council shall have the power to cause the witness to be punished as for contempt not exceeding a fine of One Hundred ($100.00) Dollars and three (3) days in the City prison. No witness shall be excused from testifying touching his knowledge of the matter under investigation in any such inquiry, but such testimony shall not be used against him in any criminal prosecution except for perjury committed upon such inquiry.
The Council shall have the power, in its discretion, to appoint a City Manager, who shall be the administrative head of the municipal government and shall be responsible for the efficient administration of all departments; he may not be a resident of the City of Anson when appointed and shall hold his office at the will of the Council.
The City Manager shall see that the laws and ordinances of the City are enforced; appoint all appointive [offices with] advice and consent of the Council (such appointments to be upon merit and fitness alone), and remove all officers and employees appointed by him, with the advice and consent of the Council.
Exercise control and supervision over all departments and offices that may be created by the Council and all offices and employees appointed by him.
Attending all meetings of the Council with the right to take part in the discussion, but having no vote.
Recommend in writing to the Council such measures as he may deem necessary or expedient.
Keeping the Council fully advised as to the financial condition and needs of the City, and
Perform such other duties as may be prescribed by this Charter or be required of him by ordinance or resolution of the council.
The City of Anson shall have the power and authority to enter into any personal services contract for any period of time not to exceed two (2) years and according to terms approved by a majority of the Alderman/City Council present at a meeting where such contract is discussed and voted upon.
(Ordinance 891 adopted 8/8/11, approved at election of 11/8/11)
The Council shall create and consolidate such offices and may divide the administration of the City’s affairs into such departments as they may deem advisable and may discontinue any such office or department at their discretion, except the office of City Manager.
The Council shall have the authority to appoint what shall be known and designated as a “Board of City Development,” members who shall serve without compensation, and may prescribe the qualifications and duties of such board and their term of office, and may appropriate not exceeding two (2) Bills [sic] on the One ($1.00) Dollar valuation of the taxable property in the City of Anson, from the general fund of said City, to support the work of the board.
The appointive salary and wages of all appointive officers and employees of the City, and provide for the payment thereof.
No warrant for the payment of any claim shall be issued by the City unless such claim shall be evidenced by an itemized account approved by the City Manager and subsequently approved by a majority of the Council at a regular or special meeting.
(Order adopted 3/23/20, prop. C, approved at election of 11/3/20)
Accounting procedure shall be devised and maintained for the City adequate to record in detail all transactions effecting the acquisition, custodianship and disposition of values, including cash receipts, credit transactions and disbursements; and the recorded facts shall be presented periodically to officials and to the public in such summaries and analytical schedules in detail[ed] support thereof as shall be necessary to show the full effect of such transaction for each fiscal year, upon the finances of the City and in relation to each department of the City government, including distinct summaries and schedules for each public utility owned and operated.
The Council shall cause a continuous audit of the books of account; all records and transactions of the administration of the affairs of the City, when they deem necessary, and shall be made by a certified public accountant. The duty of the certification of all statements required in Section 27 of this Charter; such statements shall include a general balance sheet showing summaries of income and expenditures and also comparisons, in proper classification, with the last previous audit; such summaries shall be published in some newspaper in Anson one time within ten (10) days after the completion of such audit.
All contracts for public improvements and public works of every kind and character, and the purchase of supplies for use in any department of the City, shall be let on bids in accordance with Chapter 252 of the Texas Local Government Code as it currently exists or may be hereafter amended.
(Ordinance 815, prop. 2, adopted 9/12/02; approved at election of 11/5/02)
No person shall be appointed to any office, position, clerkship or service of the City in violation of Chapter 573 of the Texas Government Code as it currently exists or may be hereafter amended.
(Ordinance 815, prop. 3, adopted 9/12/02; approved at election of 11/5/02)
Eight (8) to ten (10) hours shall constitute a day’s work for all laborers, workmen or mechanics who may be employed by or on behalf of the City, in any one calendar day where such employment, contract or work is for the purpose of construction, repairing or improving buildings, bridges, streets, avenues, alleys, highways, or other public improvements of a similar character, requiring the service of laborers, workmen or mechanics.
The City Manager shall give an official bond in the sum of Five Thousand ($5,000.00) Dollars, and the person or persons exercising the duties of City Treasurer and City Tax Collector shall give official bonds in such sums as may be prescribed by the Council from time to time. Such bonds shall be payable to the City of Anson and shall, in each instance, be conditioned for the faithful discharge of the duties of such respective offices, and for the faithful accounting for all monies, credits, and things of value coming into the hands of such respective officers. Such bonds shall be procured from some regularly accredited surety Company, authorized to do business under the laws of the State of Texas, and the premiums of such Surety Company shall be paid by the City of Anson.
The City Manager shall have the rights to require official bonds from other appointive officers of the City in such appointments in such amounts and conditioned, as he may deem best for the efficiency of the public service.
All official bonds shall be approved by the Council and filed and recorded with the person exercising the duties of City Clerk.
Every officer of the City shall before entering upon the duties of his office take and subscribe to the oath prescribed by the Constitution of the State of Texas for County Officials[.]
On the First Tuesday in April 1953 and every Two years thereafter or as often as it becomes necessary from vacancy a City Marshal shall be appointed by the City Council, of the City of Anson, Texas, to serve in such capacity for the ensuing Two years or at the will of the City Council.
Editor’s note–Amendments #1 and #2 adopted provisions regarding the city marshal, but did not specify the manner of inclusion. Such provisions have been included as art. V, sec. 34, at the discretion of the editor.
(Amendment #1, Ordinance 105, adopted 11/27/46; Amendment #2, Resolution adopted 4/3/52, approved at election of 4/1/52)