Issue 15 on the November ballot presents voters with a set of revisions to the Harrison City Charter. The city’s charter is seldom talked about and not terribly well understood. This series is my attempt to shed some light on the charter, the review process, and the proposed revisions to help voters make an informed decision. In the interest of full disclosure, I chaired the 2026 charter review after having served as secretary for the 2021 review. That said, these are my words and my thoughts alone. I’d like to think the other members of the 2026 charter review commission share my opinion since we voted unanimously on the recommendation presented to city council in July but it would be inconceivably arrogant for me to try to speak for them.

Third in a series: The Proposed Amendment

You’ll find a complete marked up copy of the charter with the proposed changes here. This is often referred to as the red-line copy because change tracking is turned on allowing you to easily see color coded insertions, deletions, and updates. My remarks to council laying out the commission’s recommendation can be found on ICRC’s July 20th city council meeting recording. I’ve also made the slide deck presented to council available on this blog.

I’ve talked about the charter in it’d’s current state. I’ve walked through the process of amending it. Now let’s dig into what specifically city council is asking you to approve. I’ll take it section by section but first, a word about a couple overarching changes. In several sections there are spelling and grammatical changes. There are also updates throughout the charter to allow for the online dissemination of documents in order to bring notifications into the 21st century.

As for more specific changes:

Article 3 – Council

Section 3.03 – removed mandatory retirement age as a thing council can set

Section 3.04 – added a missing definition for the clerk of council, a role referenced elsewhere in the charter but never actually proprly defined

Section 3.06 – require a full 24 hours notice of the agenda should the mayor or council call a special meeting

Section 3.08 – add commission of a felony as cause for removal. Also require a super-majority of 5 council members to remove a sitting councilperson. It’s worth noting that this would not have affected the removal of a councilman a couple years ago as that was already a unanimous vote but it will ensure any future removal has equally strong support.

Article 4 – The Mayor

Section 4.02 – Increased qualifications for mayor to require a candidate be at least 21 years of age and a city resident for 2 years prior to filing to run.

Section 4.03 – Clean up confusing wording around the role of the vice mayor or acting mayor int he absence of the mayor.

Section 4.06 – add commission of a felony as cause for removal. Also require a super-majority of 5 council members to remove the mayor.

Up next: The City Administrator