The governing and lawmaking body of the City of Midland shall
consist of five councilmen and a mayor, and said body shall be known
as the "city council of the City of Midland."
The members of the city council of the City of Midland, which
includes the five councilmen and a mayor, shall be the only elective
officers of the city, and they shall be elected and hold office and
be compensated as herein provided. Said councilmen and mayor shall
be elected from the city at large. (1955)
Any qualified voter who is a citizen of the United States and
who meets the minimum age and residency requirements established by
the State statute and who is not delinquent in any indebtedness to
the city, shall have the right to file an application to have his
name placed on the official ballot as a candidate for any elective
office, and such application in writing, signed by such candidate
and delivered to the city secretary or mayor not less than thirty
days prior to the date of the election, shall entitle such applicant
to a place on the official ballot. The city secretary shall deliver
any applications he receives to the mayor prior to the filing deadline.
The names of such candidates shall be printed on the official ballot
in the order determined by a drawing and the applications of such
candidates shall designate the places which they seek.
Candidates for the office of councilmen shall file their applications
for place number 1, place number 2, place number 3, place number 4,
or place number 5, as the case may be, and shall be voted on and elected
accordingly. Candidates for mayor shall designate in their applications
that they are running for such office.
The candidate receiving the highest number of votes cast for
the place which he seeks shall be elected to the respective office
for which he was a candidate.
The city council shall be the judge of the election and qualifications
of its own members and of the mayor, subject to review of the courts
in case of contest. The city council shall, on the next regular meeting
day of said council after each regular and special election, canvass
the returns and declare the results of such election.
The regular municipal elections of the City of Midland shall
be held on the first Tuesday in April of each year, and the same shall
be conducted and the results canvassed and announced by the election
authorities prescribed by the general election laws of the State of
Texas, and said general election laws shall control in all municipal
elections except as otherwise herein provided.
All officers of the city, whether elective or appointive, shall
qualify by taking the oath prescribed by the constitution of this
state and by executing such bond as may be required under the provisions
of this Charter and the ordinances and resolutions of the city. (1955)
The mayor and each member of the city council shall serve for
a term of three years beginning on the first Monday in June of the
year in which they are elected and continuing until their successor
is elected and qualified, and the mayor and each member of the city
council shall not be elected to serve more than three consecutive
three-year terms of office. This section shall not be applied retroactively
and shall not affect the right of any individual who was elected to
the office of mayor or member of the city council prior to August
1, 1996, to serve an additional three consecutive three-year terms
of office. Any vacancy or vacancies occurring on such governing body
shall not be filled by appointment but shall be filled by the qualified
voters of the city. (Election - 5/4/96; Res. 96-124 - 5/8/96)
[Deleted by Res. 96-124 - 5/8/96]
The mayor pro tem shall be selected from among the members of
the council and shall perform all the duties of the mayor in his absence
or disability.
(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 seventy-five
dollars per month or less than twenty-five dollars per month.
(b)
Each councilman shall receive the sum of ten dollars for each meeting
of the council attended by him, provided that no councilman shall
receive a greater compensation than twenty-five dollars per month.
(1955)
The mayor of the City of Midland shall preside over the meetings
of the city council and perform such other duties consistent with
the office as may be imposed upon him by this Charter and ordinances
and resolutions passed in pursuance hereof. He may participate in
the discussion of all matters coming before the council and shall
be entitled to vote upon all matters considered by the council, but
shall have no veto power. He shall sign all contracts and conveyances
made or entered into by the city and all bonds issued under the provisions
of this Charter, unless some other officer or agent of the city is
designated and expressly authorized to do so by the city council,
and shall be the chief executive officer of the city. He shall be
recognized as the official head of the city by the courts for the
purpose of serving civil process, by the governor for the purpose
of enforcing military law, and for all ceremonial purposes. In times
of danger or emergency, the mayor may with the consent of the city
council take command of the police and govern the city by proclamation
and maintain order and enforce all laws. (Election - 4/1/75)
(a)
The city council shall have all powers necessary and incident to
the proper discharge of the duties imposed upon it and is hereby invested
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 enumerated in this Charter or implied
thereby and all powers that are or hereafter may be granted to municipalities
by the constitution or laws of the State of Texas.
(b)
The city council shall have the power and duty to supervise and control
all other departments of the city government and to appoint all city
employees and officers other than the city council and mayor, having
the power to appoint and remove all officers or employees in the service
of the city whenever in its judgement the public interests demand
or would be better served thereby.
(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. (1955)
(d)
The powers of the city council shall include, among others enumerated
in this Charter, the following: The power to provide for any and all
appointive officers and employees additional to those elsewhere in
this Charter specifically provided for, including those of "City Manager"
and "City Attorney" which the city council may deem expedient in connection
with the proper discharge of the duties imposed upon said council;
and for the employment at the pleasure of the city council of any
such officer or employee and for the delegation to any such officer
or employee of such duties and authorities as the city council may
prescribe in connection with: 1) the administration of the city's
business and affairs in accordance with the specific legislative and
executive directions of the council; 2) the appointment, supervision
and removal of all personnel in accordance with such personnel policy
as the council may approve by resolution, and other than those appointed
directly by the council; 3) the preparation and submission for council
approval of the annual municipal budget; and, 4) the execution and
enforcement of all laws and ordinances of the city, whether or not
such delegated duties and authorities are elsewhere in this Charter
expressly restricted to the city council or otherwise, and provided
always that any such delegation shall be and remain revocable at the
will of the city council without the necessity of a formal ordinance.
(Election - 9/10/60; Resolution - 9/13/60)
The city council shall hold at least one regular meeting in
each month at a time to be 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.
Special meetings of the city council may be had in the manner
to be provided by the city council.
The city council shall determine its own rules of procedure
and may compel the attendance of its members.
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. All meetings
of the city council shall be public, except when otherwise directed
by the council, and minutes of all proceedings shall be kept, to which
any citizen may have access at all reasonable times and which shall
constitute one of the archives of the city. The vote upon the passage
of all ordinances and resolutions shall be taken 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 presiding
officer and the person performing the duties of the city secretary.
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 issuance of bonds or other evidence or indebtedness.
No ordinance, unless it be declared an emergency measure, shall be
passed finally on the date it is introduced, but must be passed, read
and voted upon at two regular meetings of the city council.
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 rate or rates
to be charged for service furnished the public generally by any public
utility shall ever be passed as an emergency measure.
All ordinances of the City of Midland 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 the ordinances may also be used in evidence in lieu of original
ordinances.
Every ordinance imposing any penalty, fine, imprisonment or
forfeiture shall, after passage thereof, be published in one issue
of the official paper; and proof of such publication shall be made
by the printer or publisher of such paper, making affidavit before
some officer authorized by law to administer oaths, and filed with
the person performing the duties of the city secretary, and shall
be prima facie evidence of such publication and promulgation of such
ordinance so published shall take effect and be in force from and
after five days after publication thereof, unless otherwise expressly
provided. Ordinances not required to be published shall take effect
and be in force from and after the passage thereof, unless otherwise
provided.
The city council of the City of Midland 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 departments
and discontinue any offices or departments at its discretion, except
as to the offices of mayor and city council.
The city council shall appoint a city secretary. He shall be
a qualified voter residing in the city for at least one year preceding
his appointment. He shall receive for his services such compensation
as the city council may fix. Unless excused by the city council for
good cause, he shall attend all meetings of the city council and keep
accurate minutes of its proceedings; he shall preserve and keep in
order all books, papers, documents, records and files of the city
council and of the executive department. He shall keep a record of
all commissions and licenses issued and shall countersign the same.
He shall have custody of the seal of the city, and shall affix same
to such documents and obligations of the city only as he may be legally
authorized so to do.
(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 may hereafter be permitted by
the laws of the State of Texas to corporation or recorders' courts.
(b)
The judge of said court shall be a qualified voter of the city, shall
be appointed by the city council, shall hold his office at the pleasure
of the city council, and shall receive such salary or fees of office,
or both, as may be fixed by ordinances of the city council.
(c)
The city secretary or his deputy shall be ex officio clerk of said
court and shall receive such salary or fees of office or both as may
be fixed by ordinance.
(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 clerks of courts in issuing processes of said
courts and conducting the business thereof. (1955)
(e)
In case of disability or absence of the judge of the corporation
court, the city council shall appoint a person to act as judge of
the corporation court and said person shall receive such salary or
fee of office, or both, as may be fixed by ordinance of the city council.
In case of the disability or absence of both of the above, the city
council shall appoint some other person to act as judge of said court
during such disability or absence and said person shall receive such
salary or fee of office, or both, as may be fixed by ordinance of
the city council. (Election - 4/2/57)
No person related, within the second degree by affinity or within
the third degree by consanguinity, to the mayor or any member of the
city council shall be appointed to any office, position or clerkship
or other service of the city.
The city council of the City of Midland shall have the right
to require official bond from all appointive officers or employees
of the city in such amounts as said city council from time to time
fix by ordinance or resolution and conditioned for the faithful discharge
of the duties of his office and accounting for all moneys, 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 Midland.
The city council shall cause a continuous 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, and a contract entered into from year
to year; and such contract shall provide that the books of the city
shall be audited at least annually, and such auditor's report
to the city council shall be accessible to the public or for publication.
(1955)
The city council shall on the first day of January of each year
or as soon thereafter as practicable prepare a budget to cover all
proposed expenditures of the city for the succeeding year. Such budget
shall be prepared in conformity with the provisions of V.T.C.A., Local
Government Code Sections 102.001 to 102.011, inclusive, together with
any amendments thereto hereafter enacted. No public money shall ever
be spent or appropriated, except in case of public calamity, unless
funds are currently in the possession of the city to cover said expenditures
or appropriation. No expenditure shall ever be made by the city except
upon checks or electronic fund transfers drawn upon the account for
which a previous appropriation shall have been made, signed by the
city treasurer, or in his absence, by the assistant city treasurer,
who shall have been so designated by the city council, and countersigned
by the city secretary or mayor. (Res. 91-193 - 5/9/91)
