Providence Village voters will have the chance to tweak their town charter in the May 2 election.
The Town Council acted on the recommendations from the Home Rule Charter Review Committee and the town attorney regarding changes to the amendments proposed on Jan. 20.
Town Council member Klayton Rutherford shared a conversation he and Town Manager Brian Roberson had regarding Proposition 4, which prohibits council members from “holding any other public office or employment with any other municipality” in Denton County.
“We did previously have a council member who was a Little Elm fireman, so that would have been an issue had it happened a few years later, so now I’m less convinced we should only keep it at highlevel employees, so maybe the answer is maybe just blanket neighboring municipalities,” Rutherford said.
The outline of the proposed amendment ballot propositions with the added tweaks to verbiage will be voted on at the May 2 General Election, as stated in the Resolution: “Proposition 1. Amending the Charter to provide term limits.
“Proposition 2. Amending the Charter to provide for the removal of a Council Member for absences without excuse from 25% of a regular meeting during any 12-month period.
“Proposition 3. Amending the Charter to provide for additional amendments to Section 3.06 concerning the filling of vacancies by appointment.
“Proposition 4. Amending the Charter to add subsection (D) to Section 3.08, prohibiting Town Council members from holding any other public office or employment with any other municipality located wholly or partly in Denton County.
“Proposition 5. Amending the Charter by requiring petitions for initiative, referendum, and recall to be supported by a number of signatures equal to 25% of the qualified voters of the Town of Providence Village.
“Proposition 6. Amending the Charter to require a committee of ten (10) qualifi ed voters to commence a drive for signatures to support petitions for initiative, referendum, recall, or charter amendment elections.
“Proposition 7. Amending the Charter to allow future audits by members of the same accounting firm.
“Proposition 8. Amending the Charter to require a number of signatures to support petitions to amend the charter consistent with state law.”
The council also called the election of mayor, Place 1 and Place 6 for a three-year term at the May 2 general election.
During the executive session, the council conducted an annual evaluation of the town manager and town secretary, with both resulting in a base salary increase.
For Town Secretary Hillary McConnell, that brought her salary to $95,000 per year.
“We appreciate all that you do, for us and our town, for our citizens,” Nelson said.
The council also approved a base salary increase for Town Manager Brian Roberson to $175,000 per year.
“We know your love of P.V. and how much this place means to you, as much as it means to us, and so that's why we think you're deserving of the raise,” Nelson said.
Inman jokingly added, “If you're not going to take your PTO, by gosh, we're gonna pay you.”
Earlier in the meeting, Roberson praised the Maintenance and Code Compliance team, TxDOT and the city of Aubrey for their preventive and proactive efforts to treat high-traffic intersections during the winter freeze.
“Everybody just kind of pitches in and does what they can in those kinds of events, so we're grateful for everybody that helped,” Roberson said.
