tony jeter dot com

There has been a lot of talk about petitions since the Mayor’s famous challenge. In fact there has been so much talk that I think I need to address the issue for clarity’s sake.  There are basically two kinds of petition drives that could be done concerning the Charter related issues. The first being a completely non-binding petition that would let the Council know that the signers want something done.  That something would be whatever is written on the document people are signing. For instance, a petition drive could be started with the goal encouraging the Council to appoint an independent group of citizens for perform a Charter review.  The same thing could be done asking the Council to consider forming an Ethics Commission. The Council would be free to ignore or act upon the petition.  For the record I would vote for both. These types of petitions can be signed by anyone regardless of whether or not they live in Temple or are registered to vote.

The second type of petition would involve the drafting of a proposed Charter amendment(s) that would be submitted to the voters if the required nuber of signatures are gathered to place it on the ballot. These types of petitions require the signatures of registered voters that reside in the City of Temple.  Every signature has to be verified by the City Secretary to be counted.  If the required number of valid signatures is reached the Council has no choice but to put the Charter amendment(s) on the ballot. I am note sure of whether or not a special election would be required or whether or not the Council could stall until the next regular election. This success of this option would be no small fete. The number of signatures required is over 1,700 which is no small sum.