Springfield voters will be asked to weigh in on four City Charter changes at the ballot box on Nov. 3. The amendments aim to modernize the charter to match current operations and improve efficiency.
The City Charter acts as the city's constitution and can only be changed with voter approval. Council has adopted several priorities, among which was operational excellence. The proposed changes to the charter came after a committee of city staff leaders reviewed the charter for clarity and efficiency improvements.
The full text of the charter changes can be found on the city's website via General Ordinance No. 28331. Here are what the questions on the ballot will ask.
Delegation
The first charter question will ask whether the city manager should be explicitly
allowed to delegate charter-assigned duties to assistant city managers and delegate the authority of appointing and removing employees to assistant city managers and department heads. The question will also include the authorization for department directors to delegate charter-assigned duties to subordinate officers or employees within the department.
While the question would allow duties to be delegated, the city manager and department directors would still carry the responsibility and accountability for any delegated actions.
Currently, the charter is not clear on delegation of duties, meaning each scenario has to be reviewed on a case-by-case basis, which can lead to inconsistent application over time.
Merit Rules
Any new merit rules, which are rules about city employee policies and procedures, currently must go to the Personnel Board for review as long as the rule does not have a financial impact.
The proposed charter change would remove the personnel board from the review process. This means that instead of proposed merit rules going to the city manager, personnel board and then Springfield City Council, the human resources director will be able to submit proposed changes to employee rules and policies to the city manager to then directly send to council. If approved, the charter would also be amended to authorize the HR director to approve application forms in lieu of the personnel board.
The personnel board would still review city employee disciplinary actions as it currently does. According to previous News-Leader reporting, city staff could not recall the last time the personnel board made any changes to merit rules or application forms during its required review.
Decentralizing purchasing
The third charter question would ask voters to change the charter to allow the council to establish purchasing policy via ordinance, including the organizational structure, thresholds and types of purchases. The change would also explicitly designate the city manager as the default signatory for contracts within limits established by council and apply the existing city competitive bidding requirement to additional purchasing methods.
Currently, the charter dictates that most city purchasing must go through the Finance Department's purchasing division. According to past News-Leader reporting, this can cause challenges if the division is understaffed or overwhelmed, and the charter's ambiguous language has created disagreements in the past about purchasing duties.
If approved, the change would leave policies regarding purchasing in the hands of council via ordinance, instead of being codified in the charter. Unlike the charter, ordinances can be amended or replaced by council action at any time without direct voter approval, although they do require a public hearing.
Gender-neutral language
The final charter change seeks to modernize the charter from when it was originally crafted in the 1950s to replace gendered pronouns of "he" and "him" with gender-neutral terms. This change seeks to make the charter language more reflective of today's workforce when several department director positions are held by women.
There has been no organized opposition or support for the charter amendments, beyond the city's education efforts. Resident Kevin Mueller raised concerns about the questions when council voted to send them to the ballot, wary that the amendments will take away additional review and voters' authority. He also authored an opinion piece particularly cautioning about the third question pertaining to purchasing.
Marta Mieze covers local government at the News-Leader. Have feedback, tips or story ideas? Contact her at mmieze@news-leader.com.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Springfield proposes 4 City Charter amendments on Nov. 3 ballot
