Community First Coalition Voting Guide

Here’s a voting guide prepared by the Community First Coalition.

The Community First Coalition is made up of local organizations who generally believe that local government can better serve the community.

Early voting starts Monday with lots of issues and candidates (EPISD D2&6) on the ballot.  On April 13, I sent you a long email and got feedback–some of it quite detailed–about the background and implication for voting YES or NO.  With a brief description and justification for some, here is what we came up with. Thanks especially to Carmen for diving into legal details and watching the videos from the Advisory Committee on Charter Amendments!  Kathy

A: City rep authority to hire their staff  YES

B: Authorize certain leases by resolution instead of ordinance NO (developer interests sought less transparency)

C: Rescheduling meetings for Holidays YES

D:  Authorizing Mayor to cancel meeting due to emergency YES

E:  Eliminates obsolete provisions & aligns w/ state law YES

F:  Removes requirement for second petition in citizens’ initiative process.  YES

G: Civil Service Commission to reflect diversity of community and city workforce.  YES

H: Streamlines process giving more authority to HR dept.  NO (less restrictions may not improve hiring and promotion decisions).

I:  Eliminates Police/Fire Depts Pension Cap. NO (PD already has large percentage of budget, cap protects other dept budgets).

J: City Auditor to report to City Council instead of City Manager. YES

K:  Climate Charter is sound and necessary strategy to address climate change.  YES

Early voting starts today and runs through Tuesday, May 2. Election day is May 6.