06-A Charter Review Committee Min 3-8-07
MEETING
OF THE CHARTER STUDY COMMITTEE, CITY OF PARIS
CITY COUNCIL CHAMBER
107 E. KAUFMAN STREET
PARIS, TEXAS.
THURSDAY, MARCH 8, 2007
4:00 O'CLOCK P.M.
1. The Charter Study Committee meeting was called to order by Chairperson, Philip
Cecil, at 4:00 o'clock p.m.
The following members were present:
Philip Cecil, Chairperson
Marva Joe
Bill Payne
Charles Waldrum
David Nabors
Charles Richards
Ozie Battle
Louise Hagood
Robert High
David Hamilton
Bobby Walters (alternate)
The following member was absent:
David House
Also, present were Ernie Clark, Interim City Manager; Kent Mcllyar, City Attorney;
and Janice Ellis, City Clerk.
2. Approval of minutes (3-8-2007).
Subject to changing the word "property" to "properly" in the last sentence of Section
22, David Nabors made a motion to approve the minutes and Robert High seconded the
motion. Motion carried, 10 ayes - 0 nays.
3. Review, discussion and possible action regarding public education of proposed
Amendments to the City Charter.
Ozie Battle arrived at 4:07 p.m.
On behalf of the Committee, David Nabors expressed condolences to Robert High.
Charter Study Committee
March 8, 2007
Page 2
Janice Ellis informed the Committee the booklets would be mailed to all of the
registered voters beginning March 29th.
Chairperson Cecil said he would like to start the education process in the early part
of April, after the voters receive the booklets. Marva Joe and Charles Waldrum voiced
agreement with Chairperson Cecil. David Nabors inquired about using the newspaper.
Charles Richards said he would be writing several articles for the newspaper.
Chairperson Cecil outlined the process as being:
I. Newspaper
II. Town Hall Meetings
III. Service Clubs
Kent Mcllyar advised the committee that city employees may attend the meeting;
however, only for educational purposes, and that they could not give opinions.
Chairperson Cecil inquired if the committee could encourage voters to vote for all of the
propositions. Kent answered in the affirmative.
Charles Waldrum said he thought they needed to have one big town hall meeting.
Marva Joe expressed concern there would not be a big turnout and preferred individual
meetings in the districts. The Committee discussed several meeting places, such as Love
Civic Center, PJC and the fairgrounds. Robert High suggested that each committee
member contact the council member who appointed them and ask if the council member
wanted a meeting in their district. It was a consensus of the committee to contact council
members. With regard to a big town hall meeting, Chairperson Cecil will contact PJC and
Janice Ellis will contact the fairground association. The target date is April 26th or May 3rd.
Chairperson Cecil informed the committee that he had asked Bobby Walters to co-
chair the service club sub-committee. He asked members to contact Bobby if they wanted
to do a presentation at one of the service clubs. Bobby Walters suggested that at least
one of the attorneys be in attendance at the presentations before service clubs.
Charles Waldrum, Charles Richards and Louise Hagood presented the committee
with written introductions. David Hamilton presented the committee with a newsletter,
which gave a brief story about the propositions. David Hamilton will get pricing on printing
the newsletter and will report back at the next meeting.
Ozie Battle told the committee that they simply need to tell the people the Charter
needed fixing and that is what they have done.
Chairperson Cecil scheduled a meeting for March 22,2007, at 4:00 p.m.