All contracts that the City has at the time of the adoption of this Charter shall remain in full force and effect. This provision shall include, but not be limited to, all bonded indebtedness, contracts for professional services, contracts for improvements, lease contracts, or any other agreement binding upon the City of North Richland Hills, Texas, immediately prior to the adoption of this Charter.
No contract shall ever be made which binds the City for personal services, except for professional or City Manager services to be rendered for any stated period of time, but all appointive employees shall be subject to peremptory discharge, and when discharged shall only be entitled to compensation up to and including the date of their discharge, any provision to the contrary in this Charter notwithstanding.
Contracts for professional or City Manager services shall be of a term of no longer than five (5) years, and shall contain express language providing for termination without compensation beyond the date of occurrence of any of the following: conviction of a felony or other crime involving moral turpitude; violations of the provisions of the Charter or of any ordinance, rule, or of special orders applicable to such person.
The City or any agent of the City, acting for it shall not make any contract for goods, materials, services, or supplies for the current use of any department of the municipality for more than one year, except as in this Charter provided, unless said contract and the cost thereof have been included in the annual budget of the City and unless an appropriation has been made therefor, and no contracts or purchases shall exceed the amount appropriated. All contracts shall be made upon specifications and competitive bids except in those cases where such specifications and competitive bids are not required by State law or in contracts for professional services, and no contract shall be binding until it has been signed by a designated representative of the City. Whenever the cost of any contracts charged to any appropriation equals the amount of such appropriation, no person representing the City shall sign or make any additional contracts chargeable to such appropriation. Any contract for current expenditures, exceeding the amount set up in the budget or the appropriation therefor shall be void.
All purchases required by law to be competitively bid shall be made only after competitive bidding. Advertisement for bids shall be published in the official newspaper at least 10 days before opening of bids. The bids will be sealed and opened in public as directed by the City Council. The City Council shall select the bid most advantageous to the City. The City Council shall have the right to reject all bids. This competitive bidding requirement may be waived only upon a finding by the City Council that an emergency exists or in the event of public calamity where it is necessary to act at once to protect the citizens or property of the City.
(Amended at election held on 11/4/2025)
(1) 
The right to control, easement, use and ownership and title to the streets, highways, public thoroughfares and property of the City, its avenues, parks, bridges and all other public places and property, are hereby declared to be inalienable except by ordinance duly passed by four affirmative votes of the City Council, and no grant of any franchise or lease, or right to use the same, either on, through, along, across, under or over the same, by any private corporation, association or individual shall be granted by the City Council for a longer period than fifty (50) years unless submitted to the vote of the legally qualified voters of the City in the manner provided for in Articles 1181 and 1182 of the Revised Civil Statutes of Texas, the expense of such election to be borne by the applicant.
(2) 
The City Council may, of its own motion, submit all of such applications, to an election at which the people shall vote upon the propositions therein submitted, the expense of such election in all cases to be borne by the applicant.
(3) 
No franchise shall ever be granted until it has been approved by a majority of the members elected to the City Council, after having been read in full at two (2) regular meetings of the City Council, nor shall any such franchise, grant or privilege ever be made unless it provides for adequate compensation or consideration therefor to be paid to the City.
(4) 
Every such franchise or grant shall make adequate provision, by way of forfeiture of the grant or otherwise, to secure efficiency of public service at reasonable rate and to maintain the property devoted to the public service in good repair throughout the term of grant of said franchise.
(5) 
No franchise grant shall ever be exclusive.
(6) 
The City Council may prescribe the forms and methods of the keeping of accounts of any grantees under franchise, provided that the forms and methods of keeping such accounts have not already been prescribed by a State or Federal law or agency.