Denton Navarro Rocha Bernal and Zech, P.C. Shareholder and Partner Charles Zech gives a charter review presentation to Beaumont City Council during it's April 18 meeting at the Lakeside Center.
Courtney Pedersen/The Enterprise

Beaumont residents in November could have an opportunity to weigh in on term limits for City Council members, among other proposed changes to the city's governing document.

The elected body is working toward a charter review, with the intent that term limits and other changes could appear on the November ballot.

To kick it off, the city of Beaumont is forming a Charter Review Committee, in order to get input from community members in addition to recommendations from a lawyer outside of the city.

During the April 18 City Council meeting, Denton Navarro Rocha Bernal & Zech, P.C. Shareholder and Partner Charles Zech recommended the council give the charter review committee very specific instructions on what parts of the charter to examine for potential changes and how to bring back recommendations.

Even with those instructions, Zech noted, the committee's recommendations will not be binding. The council ultimately will decide what will end up on the ballot and how it will be worded.

"Your charter was adopted in about 1947," Zech said. "It looks like it has not been updated too much since that time. There are several provisions that are in there that are inconsistent with state law. So, we really need to get that on the ballot and get (it) consistent with state law. Your charter is 40-something pages long and when I do charters now, they are more like 10 or 15 pages long."

Shortening the charter, would take out unnecessary information, make it more accessible to community members and limit disputes over how the mandates are interpreted, according to Zech.

Speaking specifically on term limits, which recently have spurred public discussion, Zech noted that most cities don't have term limits like those in place for the President of the United States -- two terms and then out for life -- because the communities are smaller.

"Most cities do term limits in some form or fashion of you can do two, three terms in a row and then you have to sit out for a year and after you sit out for a year, or a term, you come back," he said.

The Charter Review Committee will consist of eleven community members. Each mayor and council member appoints one member, while the other four members require a majority vote by the council. The city manager and city attorney will serve as ex officio members of the Charter Review Committee, according to Reed.

Reed said a charter review committee puts forth residents that can explain ballot items once they're on the ballot, when state law is more strict on what council and staff members can say about items up for a public vote.

During the Tuesday meeting, the council voted to appoint eight of the 11 Charter Review Committee members. The eight appointed members are Carolyn Guidry, Francis Sam, Lashon Proctor, Robin Troy, Cory Crenshaw, Roy Steinhagen, Melanie Samuel and Jesus Abrego.

Reed did not say when the final three members were expected to be named.

The council is expected to call for the election by Aug. 12, if they want it to appear on the November ballot, Reed said. However, the city still will have additional time to finalize language for the ballot measures.