Council To Vote On Revoking Recall Provision

BRISTOL, Tenn. – Five years after a controversial recall election forced one City Council incumbent from office, the current council voted Tuesday to keep it from ever happening again.

Tuesday’s vote was the final step in a process that permanently removes provisions of recall, initiative or referendum from the city’s charter. It formally began at the February meeting, when the council unanimously approved a resolution asking the Tennessee General Assembly to make the change.

State Rep. Jon Lundberg, R-Bristol, and Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, R-Blountville, sponsored the legislation – House Bill 1725 – which was approved in May in Nashville by a near-unanimous vote.
A 2005 Bristol Tennessee attempt to revise the city’s recall process failed.

“[City Manager] Jeff Broughton brought this back to us some months back,” Councilman David Shumaker said before Tuesday’s meeting. “He asked if we wanted to take another run at this and said it would be cleaner to just remove the provision, rather than try to modify it.”

A recall is a process where city residents can force a special election to decide whether an incumbent council member can retain his or her seat. In 2004, some city residents grew outraged at the actions of a majority of the council and forced three of them to run for re-election. While two retained their seats, former Mayor Kelly Graham was removed from office.

Shumaker, another of the 2004 targets, made Tuesday’s motion to approve and received a second from Jim Messimer, who was the third councilman to face the recall.

“Let’s not have a situation where a small group of people get mad at us and basically shut down city government,” Shumaker said. “We had that gosh-awful recall in 2004 and an election less than a year later. They had Jim [Councilman Messimer] up for recall and he’d only been on the council for a year.”

The original proposal came to the council on its February consent agenda, typically used for routine items that don’t require discussion.

“I asked to discuss it then, because you should discuss a charter change. But I pretty much kept my mouth shut to not appear self-serving,” Shumaker said of the previous meeting.

Shumaker had much to say this time around, calling the recall’s elimination “a long time coming.”

Messimer said he was “glad to vote” for the change.

Mayor Joel Staton also praised the action.

“A recall ties the hands of City Council to a certain point,” Staton said. “It can be difficult to do what’s best for the city if you’re worried about a recall or looking over your shoulder. If I make somebody mad, will they recall me? I support this 100 percent.”

Eliminating the provisions, Broughton said, brings Bristol in line with most other Tennessee cities.

“These are very unusual provisions with respect to Tennessee local government,” Broughton said. “Only 16 of 348 cities in the state allowed recall. It was something established in the 1900s and it’s fallen out of favor.”

Of the other provisions, initiative enables citizens to enact an ordinance – by council or public vote – and referendum allows citizens to cause a public vote to overturn an ordinance already adopted by the City Council.

All will now be stricken from the charter because they are “outdated” and “inconsistent” with modern government, Broughton said.

According to research by the University of Tennessee’s Municipal Technical Advisory Service, among the 50 Tennessee cities with more than 10,000 residents, only three had the initiative and four had the referendum provisions as part of its charter.

In other action Tuesday:

* The council gave final approval to its fiscal 2009-10 budget, but didn’t establish the property tax rate. That budget is currently balanced on the premise of an 8-cent tax increase.

“I will vote for the budget, but I fundamentally oppose a tax increase at this time,” Vice Mayor Fred Testa said. “In business, we’ve had to take deeper cuts and I think the council and staff need to look at deeper cuts to prevent extra taxes.”

The council unanimously approved a $93.4 million spending plan that includes a $53.3 million city operating budget and more than $40 million for the city school system.

“We still don’t have the certified tax rate from the state,” Broughton said. “The best case is we will get that number and recognize it at the July meeting. We would then have to have a public notice and set the tax rate in August and September.”

* The council did, however, unanimously approve increasing the rates it charges for water and sewer service.

On July 1, city water rates will increase 8.5 percent. That is expected to mean the average residential customer, who uses 4,800 gallons, will pay $1.31 more a month, Broughton said. The increase is expected to generate an additional $264,500 in the next fiscal year and help balance the water fund budget.

Sewer rates will rise 4 percent, plus the city will increase two related charges a total of 70 cents. The net effect is expected to mean a $1.37 monthly increase for the average residential customer, while generating more than $264,000 for that fund.

In both cases, rates are scheduled to rise again in fiscal 2010-11.

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