The Denton City Council failed to reach a majority consensus Tuesday afternoon to move forward with some major recommendations from the Citizens’ Charter Review Committee that could have changed the council’s makeup and added two seats.

The council currently has four members who each represent a single district of the city and three members who represent the entire city: the mayor and two at-large council members.

A majority of review committee members, 8-4, recommended removing the two at-large council seats and converting the council into eight seats, each representing a district, with a single citywide position , that of mayor. Supporters argued it would provide better representation and make it more affordable for people who work full time to campaign for a council seat.

City staff estimated it would cost between $284,000 and $584,000 to convert the council to eight single-member district seats, plus about $109,700 a year. Those figures included the estimated cost of hiring a redistricting consultant to ensure redrawn district maps comply with state and federal laws, as well as operational and other costs.

“In this age of inclusion, this goes against that and instead of blurring the lines, we’re drawing more lines and separating ourselves further,” said council member Joe Holland. “Currently, (a voter) can vote four times for a seven-member city council, and this plan limits it to two. I consider it absolutely a step backwards. We have retirees, educators, a truck driver (on the board). I don’t know how much diversity we need. I don’t see how anyone can get involved in this.

In support of the committee’s recommendation, council member Brandon Chase McGee said it “allows more people to have more direct access (to council members) and allows for better representation.” This is a way to write off the money.

The board agreed to move forward with the committee’s recommendations to allow May 2025 voters to decide whether to resolve conflicts with state law and vague and unclear language, as well as replace language gendered by non-gendered language in the city charter.

They also agreed to let voters decide whether the municipal judge should move from a two-year term to a four-year term.

The decisions on the proposed charter updates come two years after Councilmember Brian Beck led the first 2022 investigation into changes to the city’s charter, five years after voters approved the charter changes. the charter.

In December 2022, city staff held a work session with the city council to discuss possible changes, from both council members and staff. Some of these proposals included revising the rules for recall requests to add justification, threshold and concurrent replacement.

Over the past three years, Denton’s council has been marked by recall elections. Two board members were recalled… Alison Maguire in 2022 and Jesse Davis in 2023 – and residents are currently circulating recall petitions for McGee and Mayor Gerard Hudspeth.

In December 2023, council members approved the formation of the charter review committee. From July to November, committee members discussed possible changes to the charter during eight meetings. For an amendment recommendation to move forward, a majority of eight people was required.

Council members discussed these considerations as well as their financial impacts Tuesday, after the bylaws required a two-thirds majority vote of the council.

In addition to proposing changes to the composition of the city council, the citizens’ committee also recommended (by 10 votes to 3) to increase the allowance of council members and voted by 13 to 1 to request one year of residency for people wishing to sit in all sectors. judicial and quasi-judicial citizen councils and commissions appointed by the council.

The city estimated the mayor and council stipend increase would cost about $4,250 per year, based on the 3% cost-of-living adjustment employees received in 2024.

As for the one-year residency proposal, staff estimated it would cost approximately $2,300 to implement and $1,700 per year, representing additional staff time to implement and maintain the verification process.

Both items failed to gain consensus from a majority of the council.

Council members also discussed the committee’s recommendation (by a vote of 10 to 1) not to extend the two-year term of council members to three or four years and (by a vote of 11 to 2) not to seek a 200 word statement. providing grounds for a recall election.

“Two years works best,” council member Jill Jester said of term limits. “It’s a big commitment, and it’s time away from your profession, your job and your family. I think we would limit the number of people available to show up and participate by increasing the term length.

Council member Vicki Byrd disagreed and said three-year terms would be easier financially, less stressful and would help new council members, who usually spend their first year trying to find their bearings and their voice.

“It’s a pressure to seek out (campaign) funding, and it’s a very, very, very, very difficult task to seek out funding,” Byrd said. “There are so many hands to shake and so many people to meet. »

As for adding grounds for recalling a board member, Beck said committee members didn’t recommend it because they wanted something more substantive.

Beck also mentioned the two recall petitions that have begun circulating since the charter review committee was created. He noted that adding grounds for a recall request would limit frivolous recall efforts.

Mayor Pro Tem Paul Meltzer told Hudspeth they could ask the city’s Ethics Committee to determine whether a recall petition had merit. Hudspeth pointed out that the board appoints the ethics committee and appears to question whether the idea would be ethical, but Meltzer said ethics committee members could recuse themselves if they were appointed by the board member facing a reminder.

But council members did not reach a consensus on this point.

“This goes back to two-year terms,” Holland told council members. “If voters are unhappy, you don’t get married for more than two years, and that works out well. The ability to change it does not mean we have to change it.