City Council Workshop or Special Called Meeting

CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING WEDNESDAY - JULY 24, 2024 - 5:00 PM Notice of AGENDA City Council Chamber/Municipal Courtroom 2801 Ranch Road 1869 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 Diane Williams Jacquetta Thayer Crystal Mancilla Wade Ashley Amanda L Young Michael Helbing LIVE VIDEO ACCESS AND RECORDINGS The live video link will be on the City's Facebook page. Following the meeting, the link for the live meeting will be removed. The recording of the meeting will be placed on the City's webpage: www.libertyhilltx.gov PLEASE SILENCE YOUR CELL PHONES 1) CALL TO ORDER AND ESTABLISH QUORUM 2) REGULAR AGENDA a) Discussion of Annexation differences between Home Rule Charter Cities and General Law cities with City Attorney Joe Crawford. b) Home Rule Charter Commission meeting in Joint Session with the City Council regarding progress on the draft of the proposed Charter document. (J. Crawford) c) Discussion on the benefits of Home Rule; and on the process and the timing of sending the Home Rule Charter to the voters. (A. Young) Agenda Cover Page Format HRC Special Meeting v3.pdf 2023-R-012_Home Rule Charter Commission.pdf 7.10.2023 HRC Meeting Minutes_Final.pdf 1 3) ADJOURNMENT The City Council, Boards, and Commissions reserve the right to reconvene, recess, realign, change the order of business, or adjourn into Execu ve Session at any me during the course of the mee ng, prior to adjournment, to discuss any item listed above, as authorized by Texas Government Code Sec on §551.071 (Consulta on with A orney), §551.072 (Delibera ons about Real Property), §551.073 (Delibera ons about Gi s and Dona ons), §551.074 (Personnel Ma ers), §551.076 (Delibera ons about Security Devices), and §551.087 (Development). In compliance with the Americans with Disabili es Act, the City of Liberty Hill will provide reasonable accommoda on for persons a ending mee ngs. To be er serve you, requests need to be received 48 hours prior to the meeting. Contact the City Secretary at 512-778-5449 – Extension 125. POSTING CERTIFICATION: I, ELAINE SIMPSON – CITY SECRETARY – CITY OF LIBERTY HILL certify that the attached notice of meeting was duly posted on the bulletin board at City Hall located at 926 Loop 332, Liberty Hill, Texas 78642 and on the City website (www.libertyhilltx.gov) on the ______ day of ____________________, 202_ at ______. Elaine Simpson – City Secretary. REMOVAL CERTIFICATION: I ELAINE SIMPSON – CITY SECRETARY – CITY OF LIBERTY HILL certify that the attached notice of meeting was removed from the bulletin board at City Hall located at 926 Loop 332, Liberty Hill, Texas 78642 on the ______ day of __________________, 202_ at _______. INITIALS _______ 2  CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING WEDNESDAY - JULY 24, 2024 2801 Ranch Road 1869 - Liberty Hill AGENDA ITEM 2.a Discussion of Annexation differences between Home Rule Charter Cities and General Law cities with City Attorney Joe Crawford. 3  CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING WEDNESDAY - JULY 24, 2024 2801 Ranch Road 1869 - Liberty Hill AGENDA ITEM 2.b Home Rule Charter Commission meeting in Joint Session with the City Council regarding progress on the draft of the proposed Charter document. (J. Crawford) 4  CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING WEDNESDAY - JULY 24, 2024 2801 Ranch Road 1869 - Liberty Hill AGENDA ITEM 2.c Discussion on the benefits of Home Rule; and on the process and the timing of sending the Home Rule Charter to the voters. (A. Young) 5  City Council Meeting Date: __7-18-2024_______ Item No. _____ Requested By: _Amanda Young; Mayor Pro Tem Submitted/Prepared By: _Amanda Young; Mayor Pro Tem Type: (Action/Discussion Only /Consent/Exec. Session/Public Hearing): Action _____ AGENDA ITEM COVER SHEET ITEM/TITLE: Home Rule Charter AGENDA ITEM WORDING : Discussion on the impact of legislation relative to the benefits of Home Rule; and possible action on the process and the timing of sending the Home Rule Charter to the voters. EXECUTIVE / BACKGROUND SUMMARY: At a City Council Workshop on 09/28/2022, a presentation was made regarding moving to a Home Rule Charter, wherein Attorney Marianella Joseph stated that there must be 5,000 inhabitants to go to Home Rule. There was discussion that each council member should nominate one volunteer each. She also stated that the Charter Commission is a process you want to involve all your citizens, using media, civic groups, etc. Attorney Alan Bojorquez stated that Texas was a strong Home Rule Charter State, and advised that being a resident is not a requirement for the Commission but is recommended. It would appear that the benefit stressed was more about the issue that a General Law City has “only the powers given by law”, and the potential to move to a Council-City Manager form of government. However, it was not highlighted that one of the main benefits for Home Rule was the ability to involuntarily annex, and that in 2019 House Bill 347 removed this ability. It should be noted that 1) with the recent changes in the powers of the Mayor, the City is as close as to a Council-City Manager form of government as it can within the law; and 2) a change in the form of government to Council- City Manager can be achieved per Attorney Bojorquez through a single voting item under Chapter 25 election. At the City Council Meeting on 01/11/2023, Attorney Dottie Palumbo stated that the City Council would be able to review and amend any Charter provisions. However, it was the general understanding of the City Council at that time, that Council members could not be involved in the process itself. At the City Council Meeting on 03/22/2023, the City Attorney presented to the Council for approval, Resolution 2023-R-012 to establish the Home Rule Charter Commission. Education, workshops Page 1 of 4 6 including the public, getting volunteers, mentioned and that every member should put forth 5 volunteers because “you can have 15.” The Home Rule Charter (HRC) Commission had its first meeting on 07/10/2023 with the target for election of November 3. At this meeting, House Bill 2127, known as the Death Star Bill, was introduced. This bill subsequent went into effect on September 1, 2023, and it basically eliminated the benefit of municipalities being able to locally govern, meaning, like General Law Type A, we cannot go beyond state legislation. Given some challenges on timing, the target election date was changed to November, 2024. However, it does not appear that the impact of House Bill 2127 was brought back to the City Council to fully understand the impact and reconsider going forward with the Home Rule Charter. Furthermore, the challenges associated with annexation does not appear to have been highlighted. In addition, the need to have “all citizens” involved along the way was also not brought out as a concern when considering the option of moving the election to November 2024 versus the option of May 2025. In July 2024, Council was advised that sending the charter to the voters was a ministerial action, and the previous City Attorney had made a mistake. In addition, it was noted that: • At the first meeting, the HRC action list included workshops and interactions with citizens, yet to-date, this has not been achieved given the tight timeframe. As suggested, an open house is now scheduled for July 22nd, yet there is not a meeting to incorporate any concerns of the citizen before the potential “hand-over” to the Council in a workshop on July 24th, 2-days later. Does that send the signal to the Citizens that it is more of a presentation versus open to input from them? If we only put it on social media, does that reach enough people? • There are still a number of outstanding items to be revised in the charter, and it is concerning that the HRC has been “rushed” to meet the deadline. Major items include: o Transition aspects o Other legal aspects to be checked by legal (Note: our City Attorney will be changing) o Annexation concerns o Ordinance concerns (our current ordinances apparently have over 300 comments that need resolution.) o ESD/EDC issues Other potential issues: • Infrastructure (Water and Wastewater) issues impacting annexation • ESD negotiations on potential annexation for future projects • EDC recruitment of companies and potential annexation for future projects • Unified Development Code has not been revised • Organizational structure and other ordinance aspects, when there are currently issues with the existing ones • Impact to employment agreement of the City Manager Page 2 of 4 7 • Financial data and budgeting delay issues • Impact on current and future grants and bonding unknown FISCAL NOTES/FINANCIAL BACKGROUND/FINANCIAL IMPACT: It has been stated that the cost of an election for Home Rule Charter can be shared by other federal and state election processes for the November 2023 election, however the cost is still more than we would normally have during a May election year. The next election would be May 2025. The cost of implementing Home Rule, if approved, is something that has not been analyzed, estimated or budgeted for. According to literature, “Transitioning to Home Rule may require updating organizational structures, training staff, and implementing new policies and procedures. City officials should consider the cost and resources associated with making this change and assess whether the benefits of becoming a Home Rule city outweigh the potential challenges.” 1 Our legal team and city staff have not provided this analysis. THE BOTTOM LINE: 1. Annexation is no longer a benefit, but rather a detriment. 2. HB 2127 (the Death Star bill) eliminated the main benefits to Home Rule for municipalities by preventing city governments from passing and enforcing local ordinances in broad policy areas where state law already exists. 3. Analysis regarding financial impact has not been carried out and there is no clear plan for transitioning. 4. The public was not involved as planned and once on the ballot TML has informed us that city staff/funds are prohibited from being used to promote Home Rule in any way. While the City Attorney in a meeting, as well as staff, state staff/funds can be used for informational purposes only, the risk exists that the challenges would not be included, given these challenges appear to only be coming to light now; and therefore, the information might lend itself to promoting it. We are not prepared to transition to Home Rule given all the unknowns, and the fact that we cannot amend the Charter for two years after it is adopted. 1 https://www.rampagelaw.com/blog/2024/04/should-your-city-switch-from-general-law-to-home-rule/ Page 3 of 4 8 SUGGESTED WORDING FOR MOTION(S) REGARDING ORDINANCES OR RESOLUTIONS: I move to table the Home Rule Charter, and suspend work of the Home Rule Charter Commission, until such time as the issues identified can be fully addressed by staff and legal, and brought back to Council for consideration. ATTACHMENTS: Resolution 2023-R-012 HRC Meeting Minutes of 07/10/2023 Page 4 of 4 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37