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Regular Council Meeting <br />January 24, 2011 <br />Page 6 <br />meeting. Council discussed the possibility of three consecutive two year terms and three <br />consecutive three year terms. Council Member Wright said he would like to look at a couple of <br />other Charter changes. Mayor Biard said they could only have a Charter Election every two <br />years. Mayor Biard said they have to have the actual wording at their February 14`h meeting. <br />Council Member Rhonda Rogers said the reason she wanted to look at the term limits at this <br />time, was because of the upcoming redistricting process. Council Member Brown said he would <br />like to explore the possibility of electing a mayor at large. Mayor Biard said that they would <br />probably not get DOJ preclearance for electing a mayor at-large, because it would dilute the <br />ability of a minority to get elected as mayor in the future. Council Member Pickle said they may <br />want to place some other items on the ballot for Charter amendments. He said over the years, <br />they had discussed extending the term of selection of an accounting firm to perform the audit, so <br />that it did not have to be bid on an annual basis. He also said they had discussed extending the <br />terms of taxicab franchises and deleting three readings. City Attorney Kent McIlyar said that the <br />City Charter required three readings on all franchise ordinances. Mr. McIlyar said he thought <br />that the drafters of the Charter were thinking of utilities when they created the franchise <br />provision. He said that the City Charter also addresses the granting of privileges to businesses <br />that use the public streets, highways, alleys, and thoroughfares, and that taxicabs could fall into <br />that categary. Mr. McIlyar said that for many years the City had been granting franchise <br />ordinances to taxicab companies and we had stayed with that process. He said that he was going <br />to review them for consideration of being a privilege. Council Member Rhonda Rogers inquired <br />if they could make the taxi cabs a multi-year agreement, so they did not come up but once every <br />three years. Mayor Biard said he thought they could do that without a Charter amendment. <br />Mayor Biard said if the Charter required that taxicab franchises were limited to one year, then <br />they could look at extending the taxicab franchises. Council Member Pickle also asked that the <br />accounting audit be reviewed to determine if it could be bid out for a longer term instead of <br />annually. Mr. Anderson said that some cities allow multi-year contracts. Council Member <br />Wright said they should take more time to review other possible amendments to the Charter. <br />Council Members McCarthy, Pickle and Rhonda Rogers said they did not have more time, <br />because the election needs to be called at the next meeting. <br />With regard to the term limits, Council Member Brown said he thought every member of <br />the current Council should be excluded. Mayor Biard and Council Member Pickle agreed. <br />Council Member McCarthy said he thought that Jason Rogers and John Wright should not be <br />excluded to running for three terms, because both just came on the Council. They also discussed <br />whether or not to allow Council Members Edwin Pickle and Rhonda Rogers to run for a third <br />term, because neither will incur their two year term limit this May. <br />It was a consensus of the City Council to propose a Charter amendment to change the <br />term limits from two consecutive two year terms to three consecutive two year terms for Council <br />Members. It was also a consensus of the City Council to allow all current Council Members to <br />run for a third term, with the exception of Mayor Biard and Council Member Brown, because <br />they will be term limited this May under the current Charter provision. <br />19. Consider and approve future events for City Council and/or City Staff pursuant to <br />Resolution No. 2004-081. <br />9 <br />