All records and accounts of every office, department, or agency
of the City shall be open to inspection by any citizen or by any representative
of the press at all reasonable times and under such reasonable regulations
as may be established by the City Council or the Mayor, except records
and documents the disclosure of which would tend to defeat the lawful
purposes which they are intended to accomplish.
All boards, committees, and commissions appointed by the City
Council shall conduct their business in open meetings except in cases
where closed meetings are permitted by law. Each such board, committee,
and commission shall determine by resolution its own rules of procedure
and order of business. Accurate minutes shall be kept of all meetings
of such boards, committees, and commissions and shall constitute a
public record of such meetings.
No officer or employee of the City shall have a financial interest,
direct or indirect, in any contract with the City, nor shall be financially
interested, directly or indirectly, in the sale to the City of any
land, or right or interest in any land, materials, supplies or service.
The above provision shall not apply where the interest is represented
by ownership of stock in a corporation involved, provided such stock
ownership amounts to less than 10% of the corporation stock. Any violation
of this section shall constitute malfeasance in office, and any office,
and any officer or employee of the City found guilty thereof shall
thereby forfeit his office or position. Any violation of this section
with the knowledge, express or implied, of the person or corporation
contracting with the City shall render the contract voidable by the
City Manager or the City Council.
The City of Cuero shall be subject to the provisions of Article
5996(a), Texas Revised Civil Statutes, and amendments thereof, relating
to nepotism.
The property, real and personal, belonging to the City shall
not be liable to be sold or appropriated under any writ or execution
or cost bill. The funds belonging to the City, in the hands of any
person, firm or corporation, shall not be liable to garnishment, attachment,
or sequestration; nor shall the City be liable to garnishment on accounts
of any debt it may owe or funds or property it may have on hand or
owing to any person. Neither the City nor any of its officers or agents
shall be required to answer any such writ of garnishment on any account
whatever. The City shall not be obligated to recognize any assignment
of wages or funds by its employees, agents or contractors.
It shall not be necessary in any action, suit or proceeding
in which the City of Cuero is a party, for any bond, undertaking,
or security to be demanded or executed by or on behalf of said city
in any of the State Courts, but in all such actions, suits, appeals,
or proceedings same shall be conducted in the same manner as it such
bond, undertaking or security had been given as required by law.
Before the City shall be liable to damage claim or suit for
personal injury, or damage to property, the person who is injured
or whose property is damaged or someone in his/her behalf shall give
the City Manager or the person performing the duties of City Secretary,
notice in writing, duly verified, after the occurrence of the alleged
injury, or damage, stating specifically in such notice when, where
and how the injury or damage was sustained and setting forth the extent
of the injury or damage as accurately as possible. No action at law
for damages for personal injury or property damage shall be brought
against the City prior to the expiration of thirty (30) days after
the said notice has been filed with the City Manager or person performing
the duties of City Secretary no later than one (1) year after the
occurrence of the injury or damage. In case of injuries resulting
in death, before the City shall be liable in damages therefor the
person or persons claiming such damages shall after the death of the
injured person give notice as above required in case of personal injury.
Provided, however, that nothing herein contained shall be construed
to mean that the City of Cuero waives any right, privileges, defenses
or immunities in tort actions which are provided under the common
law, the constitution and general laws of the State of Texas.
If any section or part of section of this Charter shall be held
invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, such holding shall not
affect the remainder of this Charter nor the context in which such
section or part of section so held invalid may appear, except to the
extent that an entire section or part of section may be inseparable
connected in meaning and effect with the section or part of section
to which such holding shall directly apply.
All ordinances, resolutions, rules, and regulations now in force
under the City Government of Cuero and not in conflict with the provisions
of this Charter, shall remain in force under this Charter until altered,
amended or repealed by the Council after this Charter takes effect;
and all rights of the City of Cuero under existing franchise and contracts
are preserved in full force and effect to the City of Cuero.
The Constitution of the State of Texas, the statutes of said
State applicable to Home-Ruled Municipal Corporations, as now or hereafter
enacted, this Charter and ordinances enacted pursuant hereto shall,
in order mentioned, be applicable to the City of Cuero, but the City
shall also have the power to exercise any and all powers conferred
by the laws of the State of Texas upon any other kind of city, town
or village, not contrary to the provisions of said home-rule statutes,
Charter and ordinances, but the exercise of any such powers by the
City of Cuero shall be optional with it, and it shall not be required
to conform to the law governing any other cities, towns or villages
unless and until by ordinance it adopts same.
Amendments to this Charter may be framed and submitted to the
voters of the City in the manner provided by Chapter 13 of Title 28
of the Revised Civil Statutes of Texas, 1925, as now or hereafter
amended.
The City Council shall appoint a Charter Review Commission to
review the charter at least every five years or sooner if necessary.
The Commission shall consist of seven (7) citizens from the City of
Cuero, with each single member district within the City having at
least one (1) appointed member on the Commission. City Council Members
that represent a single member district shall submit a name from their
respective single member district’s electorate. The Mayor and
At-Large City Council Members shall each submit a name to be placed
on the Commission from any District.
A.
Duties
of the Commission:
1.
Inquire
into the operation of the City Government under the Charter provisions
and determine whether any such provisions require revision. To this
end public hearings may be held; and the Commission shall have the
power to compel the attendance of any officer or employee of the City
and to require the submission of any of the City records which it
may deem necessary to the conduct of such hearing.
2.
Propose
any recommendations it may deem desirable to insure compliance with
the provisions of the Charter by the several departments of the City
government.
3.
Propose,
if it deems desirable, amendments to this charter to improve the effective
application of said Charter to current conditions.
4.
Report
its finding and present its proposed amendments, if any, to the City
Council.
B.
Action
by the City Council:
The City Council shall receive and have published in a newspaper
of general circulation published in Cuero any report presented by
the Charter Review Commission, shall consider any recommendations
made, and if any amendments be presented as a part of such report,
may order such amendment or amendments to be submitted to the voters
of the City in the manner provided by Chapter 13 of Title 28 of the
Revised Civil Statutes of Texas, 1925, as now or hereafter amended.
C.
Term of
office:
The term of office of such Charter Review Commission shall be
six months, and, if during such term no report is presented to the
City Council, then all records of the proceedings of such Commission
shall be filed with the person performing the duties of the City Secretary
and shall become a public record.
The City Council may, without approval of the voters, adopt
an ordinance that corrects scrivener’s errors in spelling, grammar,
cross-references, punctuation and provides gender neutral language
where applicable. A revision adopted under this section is not intended
to and is not to be interpreted as making any substantive change in
any charter provision. A copy of said ordinance thereof, certified
by the City Secretary shall be forwarded to the Secretary of State
for filing.
The Charter Commission in preparing this Charter finds and decides
that it is impracticable to segregate each subject so as to permit
a vote of “yes” or “no” on the same, for the
reason that the Charter is so constructed that in order to enable
it to work and function it is necessary that it should be adopted
in its entirety. For these reasons, the Charter Commission directs
that the said Charter be voted upon as a whole and that it shall be
submitted to the qualified voters of the City of Cuero at an election
to be held for that purpose. Not less than thirty (30) days prior
to such election, the City Council shall cause the City Secretary
to mail a copy of this charter to each qualified voter of the City
of Cuero as appears from the latest tax collector’s roll. If
a majority of the qualified voters voting in such election shall vote
in favor of the adoption of this charter, it shall become the Charter
of the City of Cuero, and after the returns have been canvassed, the
same shall be declared adopted and the City Secretary shall file an
official copy of the Charter with the records of the City. The Secretary
shall furnish the Mayor a copy of said Charter, which copy of the
Charter so adopted, authenticated and certified by his signature and
the seal of the City, shall be forwarded by the Mayor to the Secretary
of State of the State of Texas and shall show the approval of such
Charter by majority vote of the qualified voters voting at such election.
We, the undersigned members of the Cuero Charter Commission
heretofore duly appointed to prepare a Charter for the City of Cuero,
Texas, do hereby certify that this publication constitutes a true
copy of the proposed Charter for the City of Cuero, Texas, as unanimously
adopted by the members thereof.
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Charles Riebschlaeger
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Herbert Dornbluth
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Walter Richter
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Dr. John C. Davis
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Dewey Henderson
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Nathan Post
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C.P. Ernster
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Errol J. Dietze
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Jimmy Crain
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Mrs. E. H. Nielsen
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J.J. Fischer, Jr.
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Allen L. Dietze
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Henry F. Sheppard
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As amended by Charter Amendment Election held in the year 1993.
As amended by Charter Amendment Election held in the year 2001.
As amended by Charter Amendment Election held in the year 2009.
As amended by Charter Amendment Election held in the year 2011.
As amended by Charter Amendment Election held in the year 2014.
