City Council appoints election review committee.

The Bastrop City Council has appointed 13 people to review the city charter and propose changes to be voted on by May 2025. The committee was formed at the suggestion of Council Member Cheryl Lee, who wanted greater citizen involvement in the process, echoing resident Carol Spencer's call for "geographical representation" on the committee.

"Our city charter is a people's document," Mayor Lyle Nelson said. "The greater input that we have relative to that charter from our citizens, the better off we are as a representative body."

The review comes as City Manager Sylvia Carrillo proposes 13 amendments, including updating gendered language and allowing the city manager to live within the city's extraterritorial jurisdiction. Carrillo initially wanted these amendments on the November ballot, but Lee pushed for a delay to allow for citizen input.

“When the initial charter was formed, there was a committee. When the revisions were done in 2010, there was a committee. … I would like to request (that the revisions are done) via committee review.” - Council Member Cheryl Lee

The Charter Review Committee will incur a $25,000 cost for a stand-alone election in November, a price resident Debbie Moore feels is unnecessary.

“We don’t need to cost the city $25,000 to have it in November,” Moore said. “There’s not one thing on here that you’re proposing that is a rush. … We can put it on the May ballot like other people have said and save us a lot of money.”

With state law allowing charter changes only once every two years, and the last change occurring in 2016, the committee has until May 2025 to finalize any proposed amendments.

Sources/URLs:

• Bastrop Bulletin article
• City of Bastrop website