Council asks mayor to name commission
By Lori Mellinger editor@bullardnews.com

The city took another step towards home rule at its special-called meeting last week by giving Mayor A.W. Hines the power to appoint a 15-member commission to study it.

"The home-rule city has a lot more power and makes its own rules to certain degrees rather than being dictated to by the state," Hines said. "This would be a great step for the city and its citizens."

Hines discussed the measure in an earlier meeting - but it's unlikely it would come before voters before November.

While too late for the May ballot, it's possible the city might choose to give citizens the chance to again change the face of their city government.

After the 2000 census, Bullard's population was set at 1,013, but most of the growth, according to city officials, has happened since then.

"Taking in all factors - including voluntary annexations - I would put the population to be at 5,000," Morgan said.

And 5,000 is the magic number for the government to allow voters to decide to switch governments.

Back in 2005, the voters switched to a council-manager form of government.

The move was made to allow for a professional city manager to take over the day-today operations of the city, according to Hines.

"When you have a city growing like Bullard is, you need to have someone in place at all times to address the citizens ' concerns and operate a staff with oversight," he said.

The proposed move to take the city from general law to home rule would - according to both Hines and Morgan - give the city and citizens more autonomy and power.

Home rule, according to the Texas Municipal League, allows citizens at the grassroots level to manage their own affairs with minimum interference from the state.

Home rule assumes that governmental problems should be solved at the lowest possible level, closest to the people, Hines said.

Bullard is now governed under General Rule Law for the State of Texas.

General Law cities, according to TML, are cities with a population under 5,000 whose powers are limited; they operate only according to specific state statutes that define their powers and duties.

They are restricted to doing what the state directs or permits them to do.

If a general law city has not been granted the express or implied power by the state to initiate a particular action, none may be taken, Morgan said.

TML states that home rule cities are cities with populations of more than 5,000 in which citizens have adopted home rule charters. The legal position of home rule cities is the reverse of general law cities.

"Instead of looking to state law to figure out what we can do, if voters choose home rule, cities look to the state constitution and statutes to determine what they may not do," Morgan said. "When a proposed home rule city action is not prohibited by the state, the city generally can do it."

As outlined in Chapter 9 of the Local Government Code (Texas):

! A Home Rule Commission is appointed by the city council to create a proposed home rule charter to lay out the foundation for the city's government.

! The proposed charter is reviewed and approved by the city council, and the council calls for the proposed charter to be placed on the ballot for the next uniform election date.

! All registered voters of the city receive a copy of the approved proposed charter by mail 30 days prior to the election.

! The citizens vote whether or not to adopt the proposed chart in the election selected by Council.

The charter establishes various rights, responsibilities, and privileges for the city government and its citizens that are not superseded by Texas state or US laws.

Some of these include:

! Number of council members, their terms, and how they are elected;

! Duties of the Mayor, the City Manager, the City Secretary, etc.;

! Citizens right to initiative, recall, and referendum

! City's right to annex, tax, and provide for safety of its citizens; and

! Procedures, ethics, elections, etc

The charter also gives the mayor a vote as a member of the council.

But the real key to changing to home rule is the city's power of annexation.

"There are various properties that are within our Extended Territorial Jurisdiction (ETJ), but are not part of the city," Hines said. "This means that even though the city has influence on that property, we don't control it nor do we receive taxes on it."

Residents in the ETJ don't pay for city services.

The Bullard City Council meets again at 6 p.m. March 11.

For more information, call city hall at 903-894-7223.