The City’s Charter establishes policies and procedures by which the city governs itself in accordance with state and federal laws.
The Irving City Council ordered the May 2023 charter election for voters to decide on the following proposed changes. The ballot language is listed below.
CITY OF IRVING PROPOSITION A
Shall Art. III, Sec. 18 and Art. IV, Sec. 18 of the Irving City Charter be amended to clarify and update the process for conveyances of real property owned by the city and franchises authorized by the city including allowing a franchise ordinance to be read and voted on at one (1) council meeting rather than at three (3) council meetings?
CITY OF IRVING PROPOSITION B
Shall Art. IV, Sec. 3 of the Irving City Charter be amended to require the placement of a candidate for city council on the official ballot upon the filing of an application and a petition signed by qualified voters eligible to vote for the candidate equal to the minimum number of signatures required by state law and to clarify that a candidate shall not be placed on the official ballot if the candidate is term limited or otherwise ineligible pursuant to the Charter or state law?
CITY OF IRVING PROPOSITION C
Shall Art. IV, Sec. 3 of the Irving City Charter be amended to require the city council, after the release of the federal decennial census, to review and, if appropriate, rearrange single member council districts to make all districts to be reasonably equal in population?
CITY OF IRVING PROPOSITION D
Shall Art. IV, Sec. 8 of the Irving City Charter be amended to define a term of office and change term limits for members of the city council as being elected to three (3) full consecutive terms in the same position, and prohibiting a term-limited council member from being eligible to become a candidate for another position on the city council, except for mayor, for three and one-half (3 ½) years after being elected to a third full consecutive term?
CITY OF IRVING PROPOSITION E
Shall Art. IV, Sec. 12 and Art. VIII, Sec. 3 of the Irving City Charter be amended to authorize the city manager, as the city’s chief executive, to sign contracts and other legal instruments on behalf of the city instead of the mayor when authorized by the city council and approved as to form by the city attorney?
CITY OF IRVING PROPOSITION F
Shall Art. IV, Sec. 15-A of the Irving City Charter be amended to require the city council to set forth appropriate standards for lobbyists and review the code of ethics at least once every five (5) years after adoption of this amendment?
CITY OF IRVING PROPOSITION G
Shall Art. VII, Sec. 1 of the Irving City Charter be amended to provide authority to issue economic development bonds for any purpose so long as not prohibited by state law?
CITY OF IRVING PROPOSITION H
Shall Art. XI, Sec. 4 of the Irving City Charter be amended to increase the city secretary’s time for reviewing a voter-submitted petition relating to an initiative or referendum from ten (10) working days to twenty (20) working days?
CITY OF IRVING PROPOSITION I
Shall the following provisions of Art. IV of the Irving City Charter be amended to delete and update election-related provisions preempted by state law and to remove unconstitutional and unlawful provisions:
Art. IV, Sec. 3(a) removes “shall not be in arrears in the payment of taxes or other liabilities due the city” which has been deemed to be unconstitutional.
Art. IV, Sec. 5 deletes language that is preempted by state law and updates when the city council can call a meeting to canvass an election to be consistent with state law.
Art. IV, Sec. 8(b) removes “immediate forfeit” and replaces with “create a vacancy” for consistency with state law.
Art. IV, Sec. 8-A relating to a council member becoming a candidate for another office is deleted in its entirety because it is preempted by state law.
Art. IV, Sec. 8-B deletes “employee, etc.” in heading and “a city employee” and “employment” in section because it is preempted by state law and deemed unlawful.
Art. IV, Sec. 9(a) removes “mayor” and replaces with “city council” to be consistent with state law.
Art. IV, Sec. 9(c) relating to the procedure for conducting an election to fill a vacant office is deleted in its entirety because it is preempted by state law.
Art. IV, Sec. 11-A removes “automatically resign from the [office]” and replaces with “create a vacancy in that [office]” to be consistent with state law; and deletes other language preempted by state law.
CITY OF IRVING PROPOSITION J
Shall the following provisions of Art. IV of the Irving City Charter be amended to correct non-substantive errors, such as misspellings and grammatical errors; to update language to be gender-neutral and for consistency with other Charter provisions; and to remove obsolete provisions:
Art. IV, Sec. 1 removes “law making” and replaces with “lawmaking” to correct a typographical error.
Art. IV, Sec. 2(a) clarifies that mayor and at-large members of council are elected by the qualified voters of the entire city while council members in single-member districts are elected by the qualified voters in their respective districts, consistent with other provisions of the Charter.
Art. IV, Sec. 3(c) referencing a superseded redistricting ordinance is deleted in its entirety because it is obsolete.
Art. IV, Sec. 8(b) removes “[member] of the city council” and replaces with “council [member]” for consistency with other provisions of the Charter.
Art. IV, Sec. 9(a) removes “exit” and replaces with “are created” to correct a typographical error; and adds “then” to clarify the grammar of the sentence.
Art. IV, Sec. 9(b) removes “[members] of the city council” and replaces with “council [member]” for consistency with other provision of the Charter.
Art. IV, Sec. 11-A removes “but” and replaces with “and” to clarify the grammar of the sentence.
Art. IV, Sec. 15 is a gender-neutral change that removes “councilmen” from heading and replaces with “council members.”
Art. IV, Sec. 17 removes “and” and replaces with a period and “Proposed ordinances or resolutions” to clarify the grammar of the sentence.
Art. IV, Sec. 18 deletes language relating to emergency measures because it is obsolete.
