Tacoma may change its form of government but it won’t be this year. Tacoma City Council opted to end discussion about a charter review recommendation that would boost the duties of the mayor and the role of the council.
Only council members Ryan Mello and Anders Ibsen wanted to keep the change alive for further discussion for a final council decision slated for July 15. The remaining council members largely opposed further discussion about the change because, they said, the Charter Review Committee failed to provide convincing arguments that there was an existing problem with the current system, that the change would fix that problem, that the proposed chief administrative officer-mayor-council recommendation would serve residents better and that the change would not cost more money than the current city manager-council-mayor system.
The Charter Review’s recommendation had called for a full-time mayor that operated separately from the council by drafting city budgets and directing city initiatives with a chief administrative officer. A smaller council, from the current nine to seven, would then serve as a legislative role of approving those plans. The full-time council would also have its own staff. A city report stated the change could cost as much as $1.5 million in added salaries, while the review committee’s math suggested the change could actually save money.
The proposal was hotly debated during the charter review process that tallied more than 60 meetings in the last few months. Supporters, including review committee chairman and former Tacoma mayor Bill Baarsma and former council member/former Pierce County Executive John Ladenburg, championed the change under the flag of transparency and accountability as well as to gather the vision of the city under an elected official rather than an appointed city manager. Opponents, including a minority of the review committee and former mayor Harold Moss, said the current system doesn’t need fixing, that the change would cost more in staff salaries and lower the role of voters in the process.
“There’s an innate beauty to the system we have now,” Councilman David Boe said during the special session to discuss the 19 proposed charter amendment.
The current charter allows Tacoma voters to elect a majority of the council, their district representative, the mayor and three at large positions. The proposed change would lessen that accountability to a voter selecting just their district council member and two at large positions since the mayor would not serve on the council.
There is a group organizing to potentially gather signatures to force the issue, but putting a citizen initiative on the ballot, might not come in time for the fall election.
The council also whittled down the roster of 19 recommendations for further discussion. Changes still under review include extending term limits for the mayor and council members. The current limit is 10 years. The change would keep that cap but allow council members who then become mayor to serve up to two terms. The council also wants confirmation authority of future Tacoma Public Utilities directors, with reappointments every two years. A handful of “housekeeping” changes were also approved for formal discussion in July. Those included using gender neutral language, aligning the charter’s anti-discrimination language to reflect city code and state law and the use of emergency ordinances to be enacted immediately instead of only after legal notices are published.
Removed from the list of changes were proposals that would require financial disclosure of city employees, creation of a citizen commission on redistricting and allowing the city to charge for employment tests.
Councilmember Marty Campbell had also suggested a public financing model for council elections as a way to get more people involved in politics. It failed to gain enough support to more forward although the city could ask for an advisory vote.
The slate of charter changes will face voters in November after the council formalizes the ballot language in July.