Current print subscribers can create a free account by clicking here
Otherwise, follow the link below to join.
To Our Valued Readers –
Visitors to our website will be limited to five stories per month unless they opt to subscribe. The five stories do not include our exclusive content written by our journalists.
For $6.99, less than 20 cents a day, digital subscribers will receive unlimited access to YourValley.net, including exclusive content from our newsroom and access to our Daily Independent e-edition.
Our commitment to balanced, fair reporting and local coverage provides insight and perspective not found anywhere else.
Your financial commitment will help to preserve the kind of honest journalism produced by our reporters and editors. We trust you agree that independent journalism is an essential component of our democracy. Please click here to subscribe.
Need to set up your free e-Newspaper all-access account? click here.
Non-subscribers
Click here to see your options for becoming a subscriber.
Register to comment
Click here create a free account for posting comments.
Note that free accounts do not include access to premium content on this site.
I am anchor
Peoria mayor term limit could increase to 3
Limit would be 12 years, be consistent with council
Posted
What is a city charter?
--A charter defines how a city is organized, how it functions and all other related procedures.
--The authority for cities to establish a charter rests under Article XIII of the Arizona State Constitution.
--The city charter acts as the constitution of the city, and the framework for local laws that are passed by the city council and then codified into the city code.
--It can only be amended by a majority vote of the qualified electors of the city of Peoria.
What is in a Peoria's city charter?
--Lays out powers of the city
-Council-Manager form of government
--Includes how the council, city manager, administrative departments and employees function
--Ordinances and resolutions
--Provides rules for elections, initiative, referendum and recall
The maximum amount of time a person can serve as mayor in Peoria could change from two to three terms.
Each term is four years.
Conversely, council members may serve up to three consecutive 4-year terms, according to the city charter.
“We are discussing whether it would make sense to pursue an amendment to the city charter to change the mayor’s terms from two to three to make it consistent with that of council members,” City Attorney Vanessa Hickman said.
The city is considering this and other changes, such as partial terms and cost of living adjustments for council members, that must be amended to the city charter.
Ms. Hickman said prior to 2012 there were no term limits for council members.
Final consideration for this proposal would go before the voters in November 2020 and the change to the charter, if approved by the voters, would begin in 2023, with the city’s next mayor.
Councilman Michael Finn said it makes sense the mayor’s term limit be the same as council members.
“I’ve never understood why it was different, aside from a political issue. But they should be the same for mayor and council,” he said.
The council is also looking to change the language in the city charter so that a partial term would not count as a term.
“We don’t want to penalize people for stepping in to fill a term and stepping in to fill a need for the city,” Councilwoman Bridget Binsbacher said.
Changing the language will also provide consistency between the mayor and council regarding partial terms, Ms. Hickman said.
“The language about mayor terms should be cleaned up. It is definitely subject to interpretation,” she said.
Lastly, the city is considering adding a “reasonable, automatic cost of living adjustment” for mayor and council members.
The Citizens Commission on Salaries is tasked with reviewing and adjusting pay commensurate with duties and responsibilities of the mayor and council. This would not change, and there would be no change to the current requirement that a raise recommended by the Citizens Commission on Salaries of 5.1% or more would go to the voters.
However, the proposed COLA would be an annual automatic adjustment to council salaries to account for inflation based on a national index with a cap.
City Manager Jeff Tyne said the proposed increase would be lower than city of Peoria employees and other pubic sector employees.
“To be clear, we look very closely each year at employee compensation for a number of different factors, of which we look at the cost of living as one of those major points,” he said.
“If this were to be applied, it would likely be lower than what we have seen historically as far as compensation increases in the public sector throughout the entire Valley, not just Peoria.”
A 5% raise for the mayor and city council was approved last year. Effective this year, the mayor’s salary is $34,549, and a council member’s salary is $23,033.
No changes will be made without further discussion between city staff, the Charter Review Committee and a public comment period.
All three proposals were discussed during a public city council study session, Oct. 2, and must be eventually approved by voters.
“We are at the very beginning of discussions related to charter amendments and the study session was solely for the purpose of exploring concepts,” Ms. Hickman said.
“These concepts will be refined through further direction of the mayor and council, analysis by the Charter Review Committee and city staff and public input.”
Philip Haldiman can be reached at 623-876-3697, phaldiman@newszap.com, or on Twitter @philiphaldiman.